The White Devil
by Star of Fate
Summary: AU. Nanoha Takamachi was once just an innocent girl until she met a ferret named Yuuno and her life was changed forever. The city she once believed to be a peaceful place is now home to the vilest criminals and dangerous madmen. Now that she has the power to change things, Nanoha will defend Uminari City from evil as it's demonic savior: the White Devil
1. Prologue: The Magic Begins

**The White Devil**

**Disclaimer**: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is not under my ownership, I honestly don't know who owns it.

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**Prologue: The Magic Begins**

A big hello to the World Wide Spider Web, this is Star of Fate (or Star or Fate, either one works). For those who don't know me, I am the long time writer of the (hopefully) successful Star Nanoha series found in the crossover section. I have been working on parody work since I first started FF, but now I feel it is time to step into the world of originality and create my own story.

This story was inspired to me after playing Batman: Arkham Origins and made me think, "What if Nanoha became a superhero" and thus the idea was born. Now this isn't the first chapter, but simply a biography to give people of what has already happened in the Super Nanoha Universe and who to expect. If you like what you see, or have any questions, or have any ideas you want to share, feel free to send them to me via review or PM.

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**History**

The origin of the White Devil is very similar to the original. Nanoha Takamachi was an ordinary third grader under she happened to stumble across a ferret, who turned out to be a TSAB archeologist named Yuuno Scyra. That same night, Nanoha's home was attacked by a Mid-Childan criminal who had been chasing Yuuno and, under Yuuno's instruction; Nanoha awakened her hidden magical potential using the Intelligent Device, Raising Heart. Nanoha effortlessly overcame the attacker and, in his panic, called Nanoha a White Devil, which would become her new identity when she began using her new powers to fight crime.

It wasn't long after Nanoha began her career as Uminari's hero that she attracted the attention of the TSAB's Dimensional Navy. For using magic on a Non-Administrated World, Admiral Lindy had used her resources to track down Nanoha and bring her into custody. Though she had broken Interdimensional Law, Lindy understood Nanoha's reasoning and chose to overlook her criminal offenses, constantly making excuses to her superiors as to the reason why Nanoha has yet to be caught.

At this point of the story, Nanoha had already been working as a hero for over a year and has gained a reputation as a hero in the eyes of the public, but is seen as a criminal by both the TSAB and the UCPD (Uminari City Police Department). For the past year, Nanoha has only had to deal with minor thieves and vandals, but now she has started attracting the attention of super criminals and mercenaries who would want Nanoha out of the way. Between her family's bakery, her school work, and being a full-time superhero, Nanoha's life has only become more complicated.

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**Heroes**

**The White Devil: **Nanoha Takamachi is just an ordinary fourth grader, or at least she pretends to be. When criminals rear their ugly heads, she becomes the White Devil, Uminari City's magical savior. When she was just starting out as a hero, very few people took her serious because she was a child, but after demonstrating her abilities on several occasions, criminals began to recognize her as a threat and gained her powerful enemies like the underground crime lord, Leviathan, and the suicidal psychopath, Bleed.

Nanoha's identity as the White Devil is kept secret from her friends and family, but is regularly assisted by Admiral Lindy and Yuuno Scrya, both of whom have taken the role of mentoring her. And on rare occasions, Nanoha can look for help from Hayate Yagami, the younger sister of Lt. Signum Yagami.

**Lt. Signum Yagami: **Signum is the newest member of the Uminari Police Force and has earned a reputation as one of the few honest cops in the city. She does not accept bribery, blackmail, or violent threats, which has made her the source of major annoyance to the Leviathan. She is very well-known for her aggressive style of bringing down the law, not afraid to use physical force to beat down criminals or interrogate them. But despite her demeanor, Signum makes it a rule to never kill anyone no matter how much they deserve it.

Signum is always looking out for her sister's safety, fearing that Hayate's outspoken nature will get her into trouble. She is particularly close to the Chief of Police, who is also one of the few good cops, and holds a small attraction to the local doctor, Shamal Suzuki. While she thinks that the White Devil is trying to do a good thing, she does not approve of her working outside the law and thinks even less of her since she is a child.

**Hayate Yagami: **The younger sister of Lt. Signum Yagami. Hayate is very bright for her age, having a firm understanding of advanced computer sciences and mechanical sciences. Being the sister of the police lieutenant, Hayate has constant access to the police databanks, which allows her to keep track of criminal activity and potentially expose major crime lords like the Leviathan. Her biggest obsession is finding the true identity of the White Devil, who she sees is a hero that Uminari desperately needs. She occasionally suspects that Nanoha may be the White Devil, but every time she comes close, evidence would usually disappear (by Admiral Lindy).

**Alisa Bannings and Suzuka Tsukimura: **Nanoha's best friends and schoolmates. Both come from very wealthy families – the Tsukimuras being enterprising engineers and the Bannings running a successful computer company. Mizuiro Kaiju (The Leviathan) sought to buy out the Bannings' company, but was firmly reject because of his questionable business practices. A few days later, Alisa's parents were killed in a mysterious office fire, leaving the company open for Mizuiro to acquire. Alisa is well aware that Mizuiro is behind her parent's death, but the police are unable to find evidence against him, leading her reach out to the White Devil to bring the Leviathan to justice.

**Yuuno Scrya: **A former archeologist turned ferret, Yuuno acts as a source of great knowledge to aid Nanoha in her quest for justice and a mentor to teach her how to use her full magical capabilities. Yuuno wouldn't be considered a sidekick due to his current condition, but he is not afraid to help Nanoha in a fight when she needs it most.

**Lindy Harlaown:** Admiral of the TSAB Dimensional Navy and confidant to Nanoha. Though it is her mission to bring Nanoha in to start trial for using magic on a Non-Administrated World, Lindy supports Nanoha's crusade against injustice and often assist her behind her superior's backs. Lindy makes regular excuses for why she has been unable to capture Nanoha, but she suspect that the TSAB may soon send someone else to do the job, someone who won't be afraid to hurt Nanoha.

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**Villains**

**The Leviathan: **Mizuiro Kaiju may seem like an honest businessman with questionable practices, but this is merely a cover to protect his true identity as the Leviathan, an underground crime lord that is slowly chocking Uminari City. Though most people are unaware, Mizuiro was not originally from Earth, but was actually a successful racketeer from Vaizen who was forced to relocate when the TSAB caught up to him. Because he is not originally from Earth, Muziro is fully aware of the existence of other dimensions and hold a long list of contacts with the best assassins, mercenaries, and crime lords in the universe.

When Mizuiro came to Earth, he had though he had escaped the TSAB by hiding on a Non-Administrated World. But with the appearance of the White Devil, he knows it's only a matter of time before the TSAB figure out where he is and takes him to prison. To that end, Mizuiro is willing to pay top dollar to anyone who can kill the White Devil.

**The Grim Reaper: **A mysterious assassin from Mid-Childa. Not much is known about the history of the Grim Reaper nor is anyone aware of her identity, but she is regarded as one of the greatest killers in multiple dimensions. Despite only being a child, the Grim Reaper has earned a reputation for taking on the most dangerous job as long as her client is willing to pay full price. She is possesses skills way beyond human capability and is not above torturing innocent lives to get what she wants. Her only motivation is money, but seems to be using it towards an ulterior motive.

**Bleed: **The White Devil's Arch-enemy. No name, no background, and no known motive, Bleed is perhaps the most dangerous enemy the White Devil has encounter. Bleed comes from a species that the TSAB is unable to identify, leading many to believe that he is a result of genetic mutation. He is known for purposing cutting himself, which serves as a trigger for his ability use his own blood as a weapon. Bleed has shown signs of suicidal tendencies, regularly putting himself in situations that would kill any normal man. Nanoha suspects that the reason Bleed is constantly after her is because he believes that Nanoha can put him to death, which she refuses to do.

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**That's all that I've got for now – just an idea of some of the big names that will be playing essential roles in the story. You may be asking why I am not going to write the origin and that's because not only is it similar to Nanoha's original origin, but because it would be boring and I think we all want to get straight into the meat of things. So take a moment to look over this page and provide feedback whether it's praise or critique or if you even want to share ideas. I really think this could turn out to be fun, but we'll see.**

**And to those who were worrying before, relax. I will still post Nanoha and the Grand Magic Games regular er…semi-regularly.**


	2. Beware the Devil

**The White Devil**

**Disclaimer**: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is not under my ownership, I honestly don't know who owns it.

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**Episode One: Beware the Devil**

It was late in Uminari City, well past the eleventh hour. Small shops and businesses were closing for the night and the humdrum of the city nightlife and wailing of police sirens filled the air. Uminari City, one would have thought, used to be a beautiful place to live from the lively gardens, to the gorgeous seashore, to the smiling shop owners down the street. But when one experiences a life changing event, the delusion of a happy life is washed away and replaced with this:

The clock was crawling towards midnight when the first sign of activity appeared in the West Port District. A black van raced down the street, coming to a screeching halt in front of a small warehouse that used to belong to Banning Technologies. Cutting off the engines, the four men stepped out of the van, all wearing latex masks of different marine animals and carrying military-grade assault rifles. The four men walked around to the back and opening the trunk. Two men heaved a large metal container out. It must have been very heavy as one of the masked men nearly dropped the container from his side.

"Watch it, you idiot," hissed Crab. "If you break it, the boss is gonna have your ass."

"What's in this thing?" asked Squid

"How the hell should I know?" said Crab. "Look, we're not getting paid to ask questions. All the boss said was to make sure that the cargo was delivered to the warehouse and stash it somewhere the cops won't go looking for it. So try not to screw this up. The last thing you wanna do is piss off the Leviathan."

"But what if you-know-who shows up?" said Shark, having difficulty holding up the crate with his partner.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of the cops," said Barracuda, snickering. "If those chumps start comin' 'round, we can just throw them a few bills and they'll look the other way."

"It's not the cops I'm worried about," said shark. "What if the White Devil finds us?"

"Man, look at you whining over a little kid," said Barracuda, laughing.

"That _little kid_'s been wiping out our gang left and right," snapped Shark. "You heard what she did to T-Bone and Razor last week? The cops found them hanging from a lamppost on Cypress Street, both of them had black eyes and Razor lost his front tooth."

"Razor and T-Bone are idiots, they deserved to get thrown in jail," said Crab. "Relax; it's probably way past the White Devil's bedtime. And even if she did show up, what's she gonna do about it?" He held up the Howa Type-89 rifle to emphasize his point. "We're the ones with the firepower. If the little devil is smart, she won't come anywhere near here."

But as the four masked henchmen entered the Banning's warehouse, they had failed to notice a shadow flying over their heads and landing on the roof, quickly ducking inside through the open window. The unknown intruder dropped down and landed quietly on a steel support beam. He watched the group. Squid and Shark had dropped the case in the middle of the room, Barracuda was watching the door, and Crab was moving to the light switch.

"Raising Heart, activate EMP wave," said the intruder, her voice small and feminine.

"**Electromagnetic Pulse initiated,**" a mechanical voice responded.

At the same moment Crab flipped the switch, an nearly invisible pulse of vibrant-pink energy was scattered across the ceiling, causing more than a few light bulbs to burst with a soft hiss.

"For the love of…," groaned Crab, rounding to Squid. "Haisha, check the breaker."

"Why do I have to do it?" Squid whined.

"Because I'm the one with the gun pointed at your ass," said Crab sharply, pointing his weapon threateningly. "Now move it."

Grumbling various profanities under his breath, Squid took out a mini-flashlight from his pocket and walked over to the opposite end of the warehouse, almost positive that none of the other men were looking to help. Squid liked getting paid for easy work, but sometimes the people he was forced to work with made it almost not worth it. Almost.

Squid found the breaker in the corner of the warehouse. He opened the box but even with the small flashlight, he had difficulty telling which switch went to which system.

"Kami, how am I supposed to see anything like this?" said Squid irritably. A soft pink light suddenly washed over him and the breaker box, making it easier for him to see the switches. "That's better. Thanks."

"No problem," said a small voice.

Though clearly not the brightest man, Squid stiffened when he realized that none of his partners sounded like little elementary school girls. Squid tightened his grip on the flashlight, ready to use it as a blunt instrument if needed, but he never had the chance when the pink light pounded him in the back of the head, smashing his face into the breaker. The Squid man gave a quick yelp from the brief flash of electricity running through him before he dropped to the ground.

Crab, Shark, and Barracuda jumped at the scream and scrambled through the maze of crates to the corner of the warehouse with their guns pointed at the spot. Thanks to the soft pink light provided, the saw that Squid had been attacked by what they had feared the most: the White Devil.

To those who had never seen her before, she wasn't very intimidating. Only four feet tall and very skinny, many would mistake her for a lost elementary school girl. But rather than a school uniform, she wore a white and blue uniform with thick armor woven into the threads, blue metal wrist guards, black gloves and white shoes. And in her hands was a white and pink staff with a golden arc holding a ruby red jewel that seemed to be source of the pink light. She had long, auburn hair and blue eyes, but the rest of her face was masked by a white cloth.

Looking between the White Devil and the unconscious Squid at her feet, Shark gave a small squeak and stumbled back.

"Crap, it's the Devil!" he shouted.

"Don't just stand there!" screamed Crab. "Shoot her!"

"**Round Shield!**" said Raising Heart.

Just before the marine-theme henchmen were able to unload on the White Devil, and pink magic circle appeared between them, deflecting the bullet rounds. Though the Round Shield was doing a successful job of keeping the bullet away from her, Nanoha could feel her defensive barrier weakening much faster than the last time. The Leviathan must have armed his latest batch of thugs with stronger rounds.

The White Devil pressed her hand against the barrier, increasing the stability of Round Shield by a small margin, and waved Raisin Heart into the air above her head. The staff's ruby glowed and two sakura spheres appeared on either side of it.

"**Divine Shooter!**" said Raising Heart.

The divine spheres bolted across the air and sliced through the Howa Type-89s like a hot knife through butter. Crab and Shark stammered fearfully, staring at the broken halves of their military guns. They didn't have much time to look as the White Devil had dropped her shield, dashed forward, and smacked Raising Heart across Shark's face, sending him sprawling all over the warehouse floor.

Crab gasped softly as the White Devil rounded to him. He fumbled with his pockets, nearly dropped the pocket knife he had retrieved, and held it out with the blade edge tipped toward the White Devil, threatening her if she came close. The White Devil hardly felt threatened when the man's knees were literally shaking. So when she took a few steps closer, Crab lunged forward and stabbed at the White Devil with his knife. The White Devil countered by swinging Raising Heart's head at the knife, knocking it out of Crab's hand, and spun around for a quick strike to the head, knocking him out almost instantly.

"Hey, my dad was right," said White Devil. "Those sword lessons really do help in real life."

As the White Devil used her magic to bind the three henchmen in pink chains, she heard a soft whimpering sound coming from her left. She turned and found Shark crawling away, trying to sneak out unnoticed. He was unsuccessful. In the blink of an eye, the White Devil appeared in front of Shark, who jumped with a scream and fell back. The White Devil pressed her foot against the thug's chest to pin him to the ground and slammed her staff next to his head, warning him not to try anything funny.

"Oh kami, please don't hurt me," Shark whimpered.

"If you don't want to get hurt, you might wanna start talking," said the White Devil, trying, and failing, to sound intimidating. "I know you work for the Leviathan. I also know that he's been making grabs for shares from Tsukimura Enterprises, especially in the ultrasonic division. What is the Leviathan planning?"

"I don't know anything," said Shark.

"Let me put it this way," said the White Devil, slamming her staff for a second time. "You can either tell me, or you can tell Lt. Yagami when she gets here. And from what I heard, she's not as nice as I am."

"I swear to Kami I don't know," said Shark, sounding close to crying. "We were just told to deliver the shipment to this warehouse and hand it off to the buyer. That's all they told me, I swear."

"Wait, what buyer?" asked the White Devil.

"Ah, it is about time I get to join in the fun," said a voice with a strong German accent.

The White Devil stood and craned her head around; she knocked out the shark-masked goon with the butt of her staff. The crate Leviathan's henchmen had been pried open and emptied. Standing just a few feet from the empty crate was a large, muscular man with an army-style buzz cut and a wide scar that cut diagonally across his nose. His attire consisted of camouflage pants with military combat boots, a gray A-shirt, and dog tags.

The White Devil didn't need to guess what had been inside the cargo crate. The military man had armed himself with bulky, metal gloves layered with a mess of wires that connected to the four nodes on his knuckles. He slammed his fists together; sparks exploded from the gloves.

"We meet again, White Devil," said the German fighter. "How I have longed for this moment."

"I know you," said the White Devil. "You're Gregory Gordon. I kicked your butt for robbing a convenience store last week…and the week before that…and the one before that…and the – you know, I kick your butt a lot."

"Yes, but not anymore," said Gregory. He smashed his fists together again, creating another shower of sparks. "Now I am the one with the power. I am the one who will be kicking the butt. And then you, and Uminari, and the whole world will know that the White Devil has fallen to...**THE SPARKLER!**"

There was a long moment of silence. The Sparkler grinned, believing that the White Devil was too scared to speak. And then the White Devil doubled over, using her knees to support herself, laughing uncontrollably.

"The – the –the Sparkler!" the White Devil snorted; her eyes were starting to water from laughing too much. "Oh, I – I can't breathe!"

"Why is puny Devil laughing?" growled the Sparkler.

"It's – it's just that – " said the White Devil, taking a deep calming breath. "You had a long list of electricity-based names and you chose the Sparkler? That's not exactly villainous."

"It was best name I could come up with," snapped the Sparkler. "What? You think you could do better?"

"Well, if it were me, I would have gone with Voltage," said the White Devil, counting off with her fingers. "Or something like Killer Watt, Thunder Fist, Surge, Aftershock, or if you wanted to go with the whole German theme, there's Blitzkrieg – "

"Enough!" screamed the Sparkler, pounding his fists for a third time. "No more talking! Now you die!"

The Sparkler stampeded across the room like a wild rhinoceros, knocking down a column of crates in his path with a single swing. He skidded to a halt in front of the White Devil and slammed his fist down, but the White Devil sidestepped and jumped on top of a nearby crate to dodge surge of electricity that hit the floor. She smacked the Sparkler across the face using Raising Heart's long reach, causing the Sparkler to stumble.

The Sparkler snarled, pounding his fists again. He reached over to a pile of steel piles tied together, sending a steady flow of electricity through them, and tossed them at the White Devil. With a quick '**Round Shield!**', the White Devil held her hand to support the barrier that appeared in front of her while she was being bombarded with electrified pipes. Not long after the piping had failed, the Sparkler grabbed the container brought to the warehouse by the Leviathan's men, charged it with several volts of electricity, and tossed it. The While Devil dropped her shield and dodged flying container; several crates worth of material were smashed behind her.

The White Devil rolled back to her feet and quickly ducked as the Sparkler came around with a strong right hook, slamming his knuckles against the steel girder. The White Devil shaped a Divine sphere in her hand and shot it into the Sparkler's face. He tumbled a little, but quickly shook it off. He was far too used to the White Devil's attacks. The Sparkler jumped at the White Devil with his arms stretched out, attempting to catch her in a bear hug, but the White Devil glided out of his reach and landed softly in the rafters.

"Get down from there so I can kill you!" shouted the Sparkler.

"Tempting offer," said the White Devil. "But it's way past my bedtime and my mama would really kill me if she knew I was staying out this late. Plus, I've got school in the morning, so dying isn't the best choice right now."

"Enough with this chatter of schools and mothers," said the Sparkler, smashing his fist together. "Come down here and face me like man."

"Uh…but I'm not a man," said the White Devil. "Besides, it's not really much of a fight. After all, I'm going against someone who thinks the Sparkler is a cool supervillain name."

"Do not mock me, child," growled the Sparkler. "I will kill you, and then I will jumpstart your heart, and then kill you again. And then Uminari City will fear the name of…"

The White Devil didn't get to hear the rest of his speech as the Sparkler pounded his chest, quickly forgetting that he was wearing electrified gloves. The Sparkler screamed in a high-pitched voice as several thousand volt of electricity course through his veins. When he finally had the smarts to pull away, the Sparkler was left standing with a large hole in his shirt, his chest charred black, and his head smoking. The Sparkler coughed once before he fell backward, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," said the White Devil. At that moment, sirens wailed from outside the warehouse and the White Devil could see the flashing lights through the windows. "Uh-oh, time to split."

The White Devil glided her way out of the building through the open window she came in just as the doors were kicked open and several men and woman in navy uniforms burst into the warehouse, gun locked and loaded.

Leading the group was the last person the White Devil wanted to see right now: Lt. Signum Yagami. The police lieutenant was a rare beauty with long, soft-pink hair tied into a high ponytail and a killer body accented by her firm, muscular stature, but her sharp eyes and even sharper tongue made her a person to avoid.

Signum treaded carefully around the Sparkler's unconscious form, keeping her gun aim at his chest, while commanding her subordinates to collect the rest of the suspects. It only took a few moments to collect them all since the White Devil was kind enough to leave them chained in her personal colors.

"All of them are wearing sea creature masks," Signum said to the police sergeant as her men dragged the henchmen away. "No doubt working for the Leviathan. But it looks like Gregory Gordon was also involved in some shady dealings as well. I don't like the idea that the Leviathan is handing out dangerous experimental weapons to street thugs."

"It's a good thing that the White Devil was here, eh?" said the Sergeant with a voice of relief. He yelped quietly when Signum suddenly pulled the man off the ground by his collar. "I mean, that no good devil was interfering with police business again. I swear if I ever see her, I'll lock her up and throw away the key."

"I wouldn't go that far," said Signum, dropping her sergeant back to his feet. "I think she's trying to do something good for this city, but she's way too young to take on this kind of responsibility. From what the reports say, she's probably around the same age as my little sister. I don't like it."

"So what are you going to do when you catch her?" asked the sergeant.

"I'm not sure," said Signum honestly. "But right now, I want her off the streets and out of our way."

As Signum and the police sergeant were discussing plans of locking away Gregory Gordon and investigating his shock gloves, the White Devil was leaning against the railing of the building across the street, watching the police finish up her business. The White Devil pulled down her mask, revealing the face of Nanoha Takamachi, an everyday fourth grader. She turned, took a few steps away from the railing, and touched her ear to activate the small communication device that she had hidden.

"Admiral Lindy, I caught four more of Leviathan's goons," said Nanoha. "I also caught Gregory Gordon again, but the Leviathan gave him some advanced electrical-combat gloves. He's calling himself the Sparkler now."

"**The Sparkler!**" Lindy roared with laughter. "**Oh – oh god, that is hysterical! Only on Earth would you find a supervillain who would think that was a good name!**" Nanoha waited for a full minute before Lindy started to calm down. "**Oh…oh…ok…I'm good. Sorry about that. Now, you were saying something about electrical-combat gloves? Possibly extraterrestrial in origin?**"

"No, these looked like standard Earth tech," said Nanoha. "Probably stolen from Tsukimura Enterprises. I should follow this lead to see if I can find anything incriminating against the Leviathan."

"**Let's save it for another night, Nanoha**," said Lindy. "**It's past midnight and you've got school in the morning. If you stay out too late, you'll end up falling asleep in class.**"

"Don't worry about it," said Nanoha confidently. "That could never happen."

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"ZZZZZ," Nanoha snored loudly.

It was early in the morning at Seishou Elementary when Nanoha had collapsed from exhaustion on her desk; it was a new record, thought the other students. Against the admiral's orders, Nanoha had stayed up till four in the morning looking for clues that would expose the Leviathan's criminal actions, but came up short once again. And after getting only two hours of sleep, it was a miracle that Nanoha had even made it to school at all.

Nanoha's seatmate and one of her two best friends, Suzuka Tsukimura, poked Nanoha in the shoulder with her pencil. She had hoped to stir her best friend before the teacher turned around and noticed that Nanoha had fallen asleep in class again. Nanoha had always been a good student since they had first met, but in the last year she had been coming to school exhausted almost constantly. It was really starting to worry her.

"Nanoha…," Suzuka hissed, prodding Nanoha harder. "Nanoha, wake up! Wake up before sensei…"

"Miss Takamachi!" shouted the teacher, slamming his book on Nanoha's desk. Predictably, Nanoha shout up and shouted the first thing that popped into her head.

"It swear, I've never seen the pie tin before!" Nanoha blinked her blurred vision away, her face red with embarrassment when she realized that the class was laughing at her. "Uh…good morning, sensei. That's a lovely tie you're wearing."

"Miss Takamachi," said the teacher sternly. "This is the fifth time I caught you sleeping in class this week, and it's only Wednesday." Nanoha mumbled a short apology. "I don't want to hear any excuses, Miss Takamachi. If you have time to sleep in class, then perhaps you can tell us the answer to the problem on the board."

"Okay…" Nanoha said slowly as she stood up. She looked up to the blackboard and held in a sigh of relief. It was a math problem and since having to work with Raising Heart required memorizing complex mathematical formulas, this one was rather simplistic. "The answer is twenty-seven, sensei."

"…that is correct," said the teacher, not sounding as happy as he should. "Well…try to stay awake during my lectures, Miss Takamachi. Now I want everyone to turn to page three hundred and ninety-four in your text books…"

Nanoha didn't hear the rest – she went back to sleep. Nanoha remained in a comatose state until the bell rang for lunch period and Suzuka had managed to lure her back to reality with the smell of fresh bread. As they did every lunch period, Nanoha and Suzuka were taking their lunch to the roof though they knew it was cliché and against the rules. Nanoha had persuaded her friends to start eating on the roof during her first week as the White Devil – it made it easier for her to stop trouble at a distance and gave her room to fly away without being spotted.

"You fell asleep again, Nanoha," said Suzuka as she and Nanoha climbed the stairs. "You've been doing that a lot lately. Is something going on at your house? Are you not getting enough sleep?"

"Well…there's just been a lot on my mind lately," said Nanoha sheepishly. "You know…this and that…"

"Don't tell me…" gasped Suzuka. "You found a boyfriend! I never knew you were so bold, Nanoha! I have so much to learn from you!"

"Why is that always the first thing that pops into your mind?" Nanoha shouted embarrassingly. "No, I don't have a boyfriend. It's just that…well, I have a lot of things to think about lately…what with homework, and my family's bakery, not to mention my dad forcing me to take swordsmanship lessons, and then I have some…friends who need my help every so often. You could say I've been very busy."

"That does seem like a lot, doesn't it," said Suzuka. "Well, maybe you should take a break for a while. Take a little time to relax and clear your head. When I'm stressed out, I like to relax in our family's pool and just laze around on the water, not thinking about anything."

"If only it were that easy," said Nanoha softly.

When they reached the roof of the school, they weren't at all surprised to see their other best friend, Alisa Bannings, was the first one there. She was leaning against the fence with her hands clenched unnecessarily tightly on the wiring, glaring out into the city. Nanoha didn't need to see what she was staring at. In the distance was the central headquarters for Newport Industries, the company owned by Mizuiro Kaiju, AKA the Leviathan.

Nanoha didn't know what to say now. She felt partially guilty about not having caught the Leviathan even after a year of cleaning up the streets of Uminari City. Thankfully, Suzuka was the one to step forward and gently touch their blonde friend by the shoulder, forcing Alisa to look at her instead.

"Alisa, it's lunch time, you should eat," said Suzuka kindly. She held out a wrapper of fresh bread. "I knew you would forget to bring lunch, so I brought some at the school store. It's curry bread, your favorite."

"Thanks," said Alisa softly. She took the bread, unwrapped it, and taking a big bite before taking a seat with her back to the fence. Nanoha and Suzuka sighed in relief and took a seat on either side of her. They sat there, watching the clouds pass over their heads. "Tomorrow will be the anniversary. I wonder what kind of flowers I should get."

"Maybe some white lilies," Suzuka suggested. "You mother always loved planting them in her garden. They were so beautiful."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Alisa. Nanoha could tell that Alisa was holding in her sadness, which must have been very hard for a ten year old elementary schooler. "I can't believe it's been a whole year since mama and papa died. I keep waking up every morning, thinking it's all just some terrible nightmare. That mama and papa are waiting for me at breakfast. But…" she hiccoughed. "But they're not there anymore…and it's all because of that evil man."

"Try not to think about it, Alisa," said Nanoha softly.

"How can I not think about it!" snapped Alisa. "Mizuiro Kaiju murdered my parents and stole their company! And the worst part of it is, that monster is allowed to walk free!"

"Yelling at Nanoha isn't going to help!" Suzuka yelled. Alisa flinched at the tone and calmed down, apologizing to Nanoha for yelling. "It's okay to be mad. I'm mad too. But there's nothing we can do to prove that he killed your parents and even if we did, the police won't listen to a bunch of elementary schoolers."

"I bet the White Devil could prove it," said Alisa. Nanoha nearly choked on her bread. "You heard the news last night? The White Devil took out another group of the Leviathan's goons. This time they were stealing stuff from your family's company, Suzuka. I bet it's only a matter of time before the White Devil catches Mizuiro for the rotten criminal he is."

"I uh…won't put too much faith in the White Devil, Alisa," said Nanoha nervously.

"She may not mean much to you, Nanoha," said Alisa, "but I know she's the only one who can catch Mizuiro. She's all I have left to believe in."

That only made Nanoha feel worse. As she took another bite of her bread, Nanoha looked over her shoulder, staring at the headquarters of the Leviathan from a distance.

* * *

Mizuiro Kaiju was not pleased.

Mizuiro Kaiju was a tall, well-built man with sweeping silver hair that may seem unusual to people on Earth, but he was able to explain it away as a medical condition from his youth. These Earthlings would believe anything. Dressed from head-to-toe in his navy pinstriped suit, black polished shoes, and glamorous golden watch, no one would ever believe that such a well-mannered businessman was the underworld's greatest crime lord, the Leviathan.

He had been sitting comfortably in his luxury office, preparing for his next plan towards buying out Tsukimura Enterprises, when his assistant had told him to turn on the news. He turned in his chair and flipped on the expensive plasma screen television to the latest report from last night's events. Not only have all four of his men and that idiot, Sparkler, had been caught, but the police had found evidence that they had robbed Tsukimura Enterprises, which would garner them support from the community and increase security.

Mizuiro yelled furiously – he was going to need a new chair and television.

Mizuiro rested his head against the window, glaring at the street below his office. The White Devil was starting to become a major problem in his operations. In the past year alone, she had single-handedly halted his underground drug operation, destroyed his cache of stolen military weapons, and prevented him from taking other companies through a hostile takeover. That little devil needed to be dealt with, and he knew just the person to do it.

"Mr. Kaiju," said his assistant over the intercom. "You appointment is here."

"Send them in," said Mizuiro, still staring out the window. He heard the door to his office open and close. "This city has a problem. Some freak who thinks she's a hero. Luckily, there ain't a problem in the universe that can't be solved with a little bit of money."

"And that's why you took the time to hire me,"

Mizuiro smiled darkly as he turned around to his guest. She wasn't that much older than the White Devil; they were quite possibly the same age. She wore a black suit that resembled a swimsuit with a pink skirt and several maroon belts intersecting, a pair of black gloves, laced shoes over her long stockings, and a high-collared cloak. Her face was hidden in the shadow of the black hood she wore, but Mizuiro didn't care what she looked like as long as she got the job done.

"Ah, the Grim Reaper," said Mizuiro happily. "It took a lot of money and calling in come favors to sneak you onto a Non-Administrated World, but you're as good as they say you are, then it will be money well spent."

"I hope that while you were paying for my transport," said the Grim Reaper, "you didn't go and spend the money you promised me."

"Don't you worry your pretty little head, I've got it right here," said Mizuiro. He opened a drawer in his desk and retrieved a silver suitcase, placing it on the table for the Grim Reaper to see. The Grim Reaper removed the latches and opened the case, smiling at the large quantity of yellow cards inside. "Fifty million in Mid-Childan credits. Fresh and untraceable. You drive a hard bargain, Miss Reaper, but if you're reputation is even half as good as they say it is, it will be worth every yen."

"You must really hate this person to be willing to pay this much," said Grim Reaper, shutting the case.

"Hate doesn't even begin to describe it," said Mizuiro. He reached into his pocket and handed the Grim Reaper a single photograph. It was a picture of the White Devil, though it wasn't very good at capturing her full appearance. "I've tried throwing my best men at her and they always come up short. That's why I hired the best. I want the White Devil dead by tonight, before she can screw up another one of my operations."

"She's just a kid," said Grim Reaper.

"You're just a kid," said Mizuiro. "And look at what you've done with yourself. Now if you want my money, all you have to do is one simple job: Kill – the – White – Devil!"

The Grim Reaper did not flinch at Mizuiro's outburst and returned her gaze to the photograph. She crushed the picture in her hand and burned it a flash of lightning from her fingers. Tonight would be her last night on this world.

* * *

**And that's the first official chapter of the White Devil series. I actually found it a lot harder to write this since it was off the book, but I hope I made it well worth everyone's time to read. This chapter was mostly to introduce a few of the main characters to the story, and well as the story's recurring gag, the Sparkler *snorts*. Next chapter, the White Devil faces off against her arch-rival, the Grim Reaper. Will Nanoha escape the clutches of this mysterious assassin? Will she be able to stop the Leviathan's evil plans? Will we be having chicken or beef for dinner? Find out next time on the White Devil!**


	3. Grim Defeat

**The White Devil**

**Disclaimer**: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is not under my ownership, I honestly don't know who owns it.

* * *

**Episode Two: Grim Defeat**

School had finally let out and Nanoha could not wait to get out of there. Though she had spent the lunch period catching up on some long needed sleep, she still ended up falling asleep at her desk during class. She was grateful to Alisa for poking her awake before the teacher had caught her again, but did she really need to use her sharpest pencil to do it? Not that it mattered, thought Nanoha, now that classes were over. Maybe she could take a quick nap at home before she went out patrolling again.

"Wwwaaaaa!" Nanoha yawned loudly. "Ugh, I just want to find a nice quiet cave and hibernate for the rest of the year."

"Are you getting enough sleep, Nanoha?" asked Suzuka in concern. "Studies show that children our age need ten hours of sleep per day, but I don't think theymeant during classes."

"Yeah, if you don't get enough sleep, you'll be a midget forever," Alisa teased.

"You're only an inch taller than me, Alisa!" yelled Nanoha.

Alisa laughed, yelling 'midget, midget' in the middle of the crowded street, drawing attention that Nanoha didn't need. And when Nanoha started hitting her with her tiny fists, Alisa laughed harder and screamed louder. Suzuka giggled and started saying 'midget' as well – an unexpected betrayal! Nanoha wanted to crawl under a rock about now, but smiled at Alisa's noticeably happier mood. Her friend had been rather somber since lunch period, having made plans to visit her parent's graves the next day and swearing revenge on the Mizuiro Kaiju.

Nanoha, Alisa, and Suzuka walked around the corner of the street and walked a little ways down until they made a stop at a popular local café: Midori-ya. The shop was frequented a lot by high school and elementary students because of its smooth and rich coffee, its wide selection of baked goods and pastries, and the two cute women at the counter didn't hurt either. And the best part was that Nanoha's family owned said café, so Alisa and Suzuka got a special discounted: buy five cakes, get the sixth one five percent off.

Nanoha, Alisa, and Suzuka stepped inside the café. The place was crowded as usual around this time since school had let out. Nanoha saw her older sister, Miyuki, taking orders from a group of boys from her high school and gave them a flirtatious wink. It had an immediate effect; the boys ordered more food and coffee than they could possibly finish. Nanoha's mother, Momoko, was working the counter, having a pleasant conversation with –

"AAAAH!" shrieked Nanoha. Alisa, Suzuka, Momoko, and Signum looked at her strangely.

"Nanoha, how many times have in told you no yelling while at work?" Momoko scolded her daughter.

"Sorry, mama," said Nanoha apologetically. "I just er…I thought I saw a spider."

"Where, where?" screamed Alisa, jumping into Suzuka's arms and twitching her eyes back and forth. Suzuka was very strong not to buckle under her friend's weight. "Kill it! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!"

"I uh…think it's gone now," said Nanoha, laughing softly. Alisa, realizing the position she was in, carefully got back to her feet and coughed into her fist, trying her hardest to act dignified. Though Alisa didn't notice, Nanoha saw Suzuka's cheeks turn pink and smiled as she rounded to the pink-haired officer. "So…Lt. Yagami, what brings you here?"

"I told you before, Nanoha, call me Signum," said Signum with a kind smile. "The shop was on my daily route, so I decided to drop by and pick up one of your mother's famous strawberry cheesecakes. My little sister loves the sweets here and is constantly begging me to pick one up. I also wanted to stop by and tell your father that I'm gonna have to reschedule the sword lesson."

Nanoha's father, Shiro Takamachi, was the co-owner of Midori-ya and the head baker, but he also taught swordsmanship classes on the side. The Takamachis, as he repeatedly told his children, were descended from long line of samurais and the tradition must be kept. So when they were old enough, Nanoha, Miyuki, and their oldest sibling, Kyoka, were forced to enroll in his classes. Nanoha and Miyuki didn't really care much for the lessons as their brother did. Shiro hardly had any students beyond his own children since swordsmanship is considered a dead practice in this day and age, so Nanoha was surprised when Signum one day walked into their family dojo and asked if she could join the class. And while Signum was unaware that Nanoha and the White Devil were the same person, it didn't make it any less awkward to be trapped in the same room with the person who wanted to arrest her for an hour and a half.

"What were you talking about just now?" asked Suzuka curiously.

"The White Devil," said Momoko, sounding very displeased. "I was just telling Lt. Yagami that I agree that the White Devil is trying to do a nice for this city, but she is way too young to be going out in the middle of the night, and endangering her life. She would be better off leaving such matters to the police. I can only imagine how worried her family must be, knowing that their little girl is off fighting crime. I know if she was my daughter, I wouldn't hesitate to bend her over my knee and give her a good spanking."

"Isn't that a bit much…," said Nanoha nervously. Just then, Signum's radio hissed.

"Any available units respond an anonymous call at the Uminari Shipyard," said the UCPD Dispatcher. "Reports of a potential crime in progress. Shipment of illegal firearms. Suspects are reported to be associated with the Leviathan. Requesting any available units to investigate."

"This is Lt. Yagami," said Signum to her radio. "I want all available units to surround the shipyard, but do not engage. I want a full assessment of the situation before we engage the suspects."

"Understood, Lt. Yagami," said the UCPD Dispatcher.

"Sorry to cut this short, Momoko," Signum apologized, putting on her officer's hat. "But crime doesn't stop and neither do I. Though can I ask a small favor and have you deliver that cheesecake to my house? I already promised Hayate and she'll chew me out if she doesn't get her dessert."

"It's no problem, Lt. Yagami," said Momo, smiling knowingly. "I'll just have Nanoha stop by and – where did Nanoha go?"

Alisa and Suzuka looked between them, finding the space empty.

"How does she keep disappearing like that?" asked Alisa, annoyed. "I thought she was a samurai girl, not a ninja."

"You know, Nanoha tends to disappear a lot when there's trouble," said Suzuka, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "And she's never around when the White Devil appears. You don't think…that Nanoha might be the white Devil, do you?"

Alisa, Suzuka, Signum, and Momoko all hummed with thought. But in roughly ten seconds, they all shook their heads. The idea that a simple and sweet little girl like Nanoha being the White Devil was absolutely ridiculous.

* * *

Nanoha dropped onto the rooftop opposite of the Uminari Shipyard, pulling the white cloth over her nose to complete her transformation into the White Devil. The area was a giant maze of intermodal containers the size of buses and from her vantage point, she could see at least ten people in latex masks unloading half a dozen of those containers off a frater that had made it to port. Looking down to street level, she saw that a single squad car was hiding in the alley just below. Most likely scoping the place out before the lieutenant arrives.

Nanoha touched the communication device in her ear.

"Lindy-san, you hear anything about the Leviathan receiving a shipment of illegal firearms today?" asked Nanoha.

"**Going through his sales records, the Leviathan did schedule for a cargo pickup this afternoon,**" said Lindy. "**But the strangest thing is that the order was made only several hours ago. There's something unusual about this shipment, so I want you to be careful, Nanoha.**"

"It's just a couple of the Leviathan's street thugs," said Nanoha positively. "I'll finish this up and be back home in time for dinner."

"**It's all right to be a little confident, Nanoha,**" said Lindy in a warning tone. "**But if you get overconfident, you're bound to make mistakes. Remember, this is the Leviathan we are dealing with, so please be careful. I can't help you anymore than I already have without the TSAB knowing that we're working together.**"

"You worry too much, Lindy-san," said Nanoha. "Don't worry; I'll have this done in five minutes."

Before Lindy could argue her point, Nanoha disconnected the communication link and jumped off the edge of the rooftop.

The Leviathan's men, all wearing masks of different marine life, were marching around on edge with their fingers inching toward the trigger of their military rifles. They were vaguely aware of the police car across the street, watching them, but continued to walk around the perimeter and unload the cargo while pretending not to notice. As the crane finished lowering the last of the intermodal containers onto the dock, the grunt began to fumble with the bindings as the temporary leader of the group, a man in a jellyfish mask, walked around to observe them.

"Make it quick, ya morons!" shouted Jellyfish. "The boss wants this cargo unloaded in an hour and I'm not going to be the one to tell him that you dumbasses couldn't pull it off."

"Give us a break," said minnow. "We're going as fast as we can. It's not our fault the boss gave us a call at the last minute. Why are we even out here in the middle of the day? The cops will be on us in minutes with these masks on."

"I'd be less worried about the cops and more worried about you-know-who," said Stingray.

"You mean the White Devil?" scoffed Jellyfish. "I wouldn't be worried about her. From the way I hear it, the boss brought in a professional to handle her. You'll see, by tomorrow the White Devil is gonna be nothing but a bad dream."

"Sorry, guys," said the White Devil, landing on the top of the container with a loud thud. "But this is one dream you won't be waking up from any time soon."

"Crap, it's the Devil!" screamed Stingray.

"Don't just stand there, you idiots!" yelled Jellyfish. "Shoot her!"

All of the Leviathan's men reached for their rifles, but with a quick cry of "**Divine Shooter**", the White Devil disarmed them in a shower of sakura spheres, slicing their munitions in half. The White Devil dropped down from the container and landed on the two henchmen directly below her, stomping their faces into the concrete. One of them was knocked out cold, though the other groaned and tried to turn over – Nanoha slammed Raising Heart into the back of his head, smashing his face into the ground a second time.

While White Devil pretended not to notice Stingray hiding behind the crate to her right, she looked ahead as Minnow and Whale moved in closer, both swinging their fists around. The White Devil threw tossed Raising Heart into the air and threw her hands out to either side, yelling a quick "**Round Shield!**", and created two barriers of pink Mana from her palms. Minnow and Whale smashed their fists into the barriers and drew back, holding their throbbing hands, feeling as if they had punched a brick wall. Out of the corner of her peripheral vision, the White Devil saw Stingray trying to sneak up behind her. Raising Heart back down at the moment and Nanoha used her to wrap around the thug's neck, throwing him over her shoulder and into the two goons in front of her. She proceeded to knock them all out with a quick swing of Raising Heart

The White Devil rounded to the rest of the Leviathan's henchmen, two of them were hesitantly hanging around the edge of Nanoha's reach, their clenched fists shaking anxiously. The White Devil took a step forward; one of the henchmen panicked and swung his fist. The White Devil effortlessly knocked it aside with Raising Heart and redirected the man into a nearby container, knocking him out. The second goon tried kicking the White Devil, but she grabbed him by the ankle and pushed him back, connecting his head with the concrete.

And then there were three left; Jellyfish and two henchmen she didn't bother to recognize. Laughing silently to herself, the White Devil shot what she thought was an intimidating glare and the two nameless henchmen ran away, screaming like little girls, toward the cop car. If they had a choice between spending life in prison and spending five minutes with the White Devil, they would choose prison. Jellyfish screamed at the men to come back, but they wouldn't listen. Quick as a flash, the White Devil slammed Jellyfish into a container, using Raising Heart to pin the man down.

"Oh kami, please don't hurt me," pleaded Jellyfish. "I didn't do anything, I swear."

"I find that hard to believe," said the White Devil. "Before I hand you off to Lt. Yagami and her men, I want a few answers. Why is the Leviathan suddenly taking an interest in illegal weapons? That's not his style."

"I don't know anything about any guns," whimpered Jellyfish. "The boss just said to come down to the docks and unload a bunch of empty shipping containers off a ship, any ship. That's all I know, I swear."

"Empty?" said the White Devil suspiciously.

Jellyfish nodded quickly, hoping his answer was satisfactory, and then was promptly knocked out by the White Devil's staff. The White Devil quickly dashed over to the container that they had just unloaded off the ship, struggled with lock for a moment, and threw open the metal doors. Just as Jellyfish had said, the container was entirely bare. Just to be extra certain, the White Devil checked two more shipping containers, both of which had the same result.

"All of them are empty," said the White Devil softly. She touched the communicator in her ear. "Lindy-san, something weird is going on down in the shipyard. I just had a look into some of the cargo Leviathan's men were unloading and all of them are empty. Can you find anything in the Leviathan's records that would tell why he would want empty containers?" She waited a few seconds for a response from the admiral, but she only received static. "Hello? Lindy-san?"

"It's not going to work," said a soft, chilling voice. "I've placed a jamming barrier around the area. All communications are cut off."

The White Devil turned on her heels. The Grim Reapers was leaning against the shipment containers that had just been unloaded, her arms crossed and her barely visible lips formed into a grimace. How had the White Devil not noticed her before? It wasn't the only thing she had failed to notice as she looked down to her feet, seeing the gigantic Mid-Childan magic circle that had covered more than half the shipyard.

"When did you manage to put this up?" asked the White Devil.

"While you were disposing of the Leviathan's men," said the Grim Reaper, pushing off the container. "I'm amazed that you hadn't noticed it, given your reputation." The White Devil looked across the street where two of the Leviathan's men were being arrested. "And if you are thinking of asking for help, don't bother. A barrier has been placed over this area that prevents non-mages from seeing us."

"I wasn't looking for help," said the White Devil. "Not really my style and I have a feeling the cops would gun me down before you." She pointed Raising Heart at the Grim Reaper. "So, what do they call you? Little Black Riding Hood? Mystery Lass? Dark Magician Girl? Wait, I think that one is already taken…"

"Grim Reaper," said the Grim Reaper.

"Ok…that is a little intimidating," said the White Devil hesitantly. "All right, I'm just going to assume that you used the Leviathan's men to drag me out into some kind of trap. But what does that Leviathan have over you? You don't look that much older than me."

"The Leviathan has offered me a large sum of money to get rid of you," said the Grim Reaper. "Fifty million credits for the death of the White Devil. For such a large offer, I had expected you to be somewhat of an extraordinary person. Unfortunately, there is nothing extraordinary about you." She raised her right fist; a golden triangle glistened on the back of her hand. "Bardiche, let's end this quickly and collect our reward."

"**Yes, sir!**" said Bardiche.

The Grim Reaper ripped the golden triangle from her glove and tossed it skyward. An explosion of golden light blinded the White Devil. When the blurriness began to subside, the White Devil cautiously opened her eyes and looked to the Grim Reaper, who, to Nanoha's surprise, was wielding her own Intelligence Device. Unlike Raising Hearts magic wand appearance, Bardiche was a silvery-black halberd with a blunt edge and a round topaz embedded in the head.

Despite looking so heavy, the Grim Reaper was able to twirl Bardiche in her hands like she had been doing it for years, which, now that the White Devil thought about it, she might have. The Grim Reaper smashed Bardiche's blunted edge into the concrete, leaving a sizable crack in the ground; the White Devil flinched when a small piece of debris hit her head.

"Okay, I was not expecting that," said the White Devil.

"**Master, be cautious,**" warned Raising Heart. "**The Grim Reaper is using an Advanced Mid-Childan Assault Device – her abilities in close combat are significantly enhanced. Recommending use of long range shooting spells.**"

"Okay, let's put some distance between her and us," the White Devil agreed.

"That won't be as easy as you might think," said the Grim Reaper, whispering the words into her ear.

The White Devil gasped silently and looked sharply over her shoulder. She had only looked away for literally a second and the Grim Reaper had somehow managed to place herself behind the White Devil without her notice. The White Devil responded by swinging Raising Heart around, but the Grim Reaper caught her by the shaft and ripped it out of the White Devil's hands, tossing it to the side. Disarmed, the White Devil stepped away, but the Grim Reaper followed and jabbed her in the stomach with the butt of her weapon, forcing her to double over. The Grim Reaper followed up smacking the White Devil across the face with Bardiche's blunt edge and sent her tumbling into a nearby container.

The White Devil weakly pushed up to her hands and knees, but suddenly felt a stabbing pain in her left eye and slapped a hand over it. She realized that her eyelid was swollen shut – the Grim Reaper had purposely blinded her. She turned her head to the Grim Reaper, who was gliding – literally gliding – across the shipyard and swung Bardiche with all her mighty. The White Devil rolled out of the way. The Grim Reaper's Device pierced through the metal surface of the container and when the Grim Reaper tried to pull back, she found Bardiche wedged in the wall. The White Devil used this chance and raced over to where Raising Heart had been tossed.

She found her staff barely handing off the edge of the dock just as the sound of tearing metal ripped through the air. The Grim Reaper had pried her weapon out. The White Devil knew the Grim Reaper would come looking for her and quickly dived into an open container, closing the doors just enough that she could see outside.

She peered through the crack with her one good eye. She saw the Grim Reaper walking around the corner. She craned her head back toward the sky, finding nothing but a flock of seagulls, moved toward the end of the docks, leaning over the edge, but shook her head. She had easily assumed that the White Devil had neither escaped into the cloud or was hiding in the water, meaning she must have been somewhere in the shipyard. The Grim Reaper stepped up to a nearby container and, with her bare hands, ripped the door off its hinges. She found nothing.

"I know you're still here, Devil!" called the Grim Reaper. "It's only a matter of time before I find you! Make it easy on yourself and surrender! If you do, I promise I will do everything in my power to make your death painless."

"How considerate of her," muttered the White Devil. She winced; the Grim Reaper ripped open another container. "Raising Heart, have you been able to get in contact with Lindy-san?"

"**Communications are still offline,**" said Raising Heart. "**This is an advanced AAA-Rank spell – much too advanced for someone of her age.**"

"Yeah, she's definitely a cut about the Sparkler," said the White Devil. The Grim Reaper ripped open a third container. "Look at her. She's tearing off five inches of thick steel like its paper. If I get too close to her, she'll literally rip my head off." She gripped her Device as the Grim Reaper ripped a fourth container; she was getting closer. "Raising Heart, I'm gonna need you to do something for me."

"**Anything, Master**," said Raising Heart.

"I need you to take a shot with Divine Shooter," said the White Devil. "I can't see properly with my left eye the way it is. After you've made the shot, we'll try to escape from the barrier and call Lindy-san for help. The TSAB won't mind if they catch another mage, would they?"

"**Leave it to me, Master,**" said Raising Heart.

The White Devil slowly opened the container doors, wincing as they creaked loudly, but the Grim Reaper didn't hear the noise – she had torn another container open at the same time. The White Devil inched her staff through the crack just enough for Raising Heart's head to be outside. Both of them remained mute as the followed the Grim Reaper, waiting until she had turned her back to them. As the Grim Reaper raised her hand to another steel door, Raising Heart shaped four Divine spheres.

"**Divine Shooter!**" shouted Raising Heart.

The Divine sphere streaked across the docks in a blur of pink, less than a meter away from the Grim Reaper, when –

"**Photon Lancer!**" yelled Bardiche.

Before the Divine spheres were able to connect, four yellow bullets appeared from nothing and intercepted their path, dissolving the shooting spell. The Grim Reaper turned slowly as the White Devil stepped out of the container, frowning.

"Such a basic shooting spell," said the Grim Reaper. "I'm seriously disappointed. From what I heard, you've been doing this…crusade of yours for over a year and you have yet to learn anything beyond simple D-Rank spells. Now I am starting to feel bad for charging the Leviathan too much. It doesn't seem like a fair trade."

"Shoot," the White Devil curse. "Raising Heart!"

"**Flier Fin!**" shouted Raising Heart.

Pink, bat-like wings sprouted from the White Devil's ankles and she wasted no time escaping into the air.

"So she can use actual aerial spells rather than simple levitation," said Grim Reaper, sounding somewhat impressed. "That is a very rare skill only a select few are capable of mastering. I might have been wrong in saying that she is incompetent…but…"

"**Blitz Action!**" yelled Bardiche.

A brief charge of electricity washed over the Grim Reaper's body second before she vanished entirely.

Several miles above the ocean already, the White Devil chanced a look back to the shipyard. She couldn't see the docks anymore, which means she couldn't see the Grim Reaper anymore. The White Devil had hoped she was well out of the Grim Reaper's jamming barrier as well.

"Raising Heart, try to contact Lindy-san," said the White Devil.

"**Establishing external connection,**" said Raising Heart.

The communicator in the White Devil's ear buzzed with static for several seconds before she could finally hear Admiral Lindy's concerned voice through the receiver.

"**Nanoha, what's going on?**" asked Lindy worried. "**I've been trying to raise you for fifteen minutes. I was looking through the Leviathan's records and I discovered that he has been pooling millions of credits to smuggle a Mid-Childan assassin onto Earth.**"

"The Grim Reaper," said Nanoha. "Yeah, I just met her."

"**Then it's worse than I could have imagined,**" said Lindy. "**Nanoha, the Grim Reaper is number six on the TSAB's top ten most wanted list. She has a long record of outstanding warrants including thirty-two counts of first-degree murder and nineteen counts of assassination of public figures.**"

"So she's the bad guy," said White Devil jokingly.

"**This isn't funny, Nanoha,**" said Lindy severely. "**She isn't some street thug or a poor-named fourth-rate villain. She is a master assassin and I want you to – bzzt – **"

"Lindy," called the White Devil; she received only static. "Admiral Lindy, are you – AUGH!"

The White Devil felt the pressure of cold steel pressing down on her ribcage as she was blasted across the sky, her Barrier Jacket having a large rip in the side. She caught herself in the air and her hand immediately went to her ribs. She wasn't a doctor, but the swelling flesh and blotchy purple skin may be an indicator that at least two of her ribs were broken. The White Devil looked up; the Grim Reaper was speeding toward her like a bullet.

The White Devil and Raising Heart cried out "**Round Shield!**" and threw up a barrier between them. The Grim Reaper pulled back Bardiche and swung around for a killer stroke that shattered the barrier like glass. Bardiche's blunt edge met Raising Heart's shaft. Raising Heart reinforced structure was able to repel the force behind the Grim Reaper's halberd, giving the White Devil the opportunity to push her opponent back. The White Devil thrust her staff at her, but the Grim Reaper grabbed Raising Heart by the shaft, refusing to release even as the White Devil pulled back.

"I really am sorry that it has to come to this," said Grim Reaper. "In another life, I feel we could have been friends. But…" She gave a silent command to Bardiche, who shouted "**Scythe Form!**" and the axe head flipped up. A curved blade of golden energy erupted from the hole in its shaft, giving the Grim Reaper a weapon suited to her name. "I need that money. And if it means killing a million people, I'll gladly stain my hands red with their blood."

"Kami…" murmured the White Devil fearfully.

"I don't believe in Kami," said the Grim Reaper. "**Scythe Slash!**"

The White Devil felt numb. Even as the scythe blade ripped across her chest and her own blood splattered across the clouds, she didn't feel anything. She wondered if the Grim Reaper had actually ripped her soul from her corpse. She suddenly became aware that she was falling…falling…falling…. She heard a voice, but it sounded muffled and distant. Was someone calling her name? Her vision became blurred – she heard a muffled splash and her bleeding lungs started to fill with water.

And then the world went black…

* * *

Mizuiro Kaiju felt like breaking into a song and dance.

It was late in the afternoon as the sun was beginning to set over the horizon and the underworld crime lord was sitting in his luxurious new leather chair with a glass of imported wine and his eyes glued on the new plasma screen television. He had offered a glass to the Grim Reaper, but she declined. She may be an assassin, but she's still underage. The moment his hired hit man had returned, Mizuiro had flipped the screen to the news and couldn't stop smiling at the latest report.

"..while still unconfirmed," said the onsite reporter, "reports from local witnesses claim that the White Devil was killed over the Pacific Coast by what witnesses are saying was a 'black hooded demon with a scythe'. While there is no confirmation of the existence of this 'Grim Reaper' as authorities are calling it, the Uminari City Police Department has initiated a search party for the White Devil led by Lt. Signum Yagami. If anyone has any information on the Grim Reaper, please call – "

"When you say you get the job done, you really mean it," said Mizuiro, laughing as she shut off the television. He into his desk drawer and pulled out the silver suitcase filled with credits, sliding it over to the Grim Reaper. "As I promised: fifty million Mid-Childan credits. Enough to get you settled for years."

"Or a few weeks," said the Grim Reaper. She opened the case and checked to make sure that all of it was there. "But this won't be enough in the long run. If you are ever in need of my…services again, you know my fee."

"With results like yours, you're worth every credit," said Mizuiro, leaning back in his chair. "I've been trying to get rid of the White Devil for over a year now and you finish the job in one day. Now that is impressive."

"You thought too highly of her," said the Grim Reaper, snapping the case shut. "She was inexperienced and didn't understand the full capabilities of her magic. I doubt she even knew that her Intelligence Device was capable of using alternative forms. If she had, then she might have put up more of a fight." Taking the case of the desk, turned away with a whip of her cloak. "I almost felt bad about killing her. Almost."

"You really do have a heart of stone," said Mizuiro, smirking. "I bet your parents are so proud of you."

The Grim Reaper stopped at the door, her hand gripping on the knob. Her mouth twitched, but she didn't say anything. She got her money and that's all that mattered. She threw the door open and walked out of his office – Mizuiro made and note to have his assistant replace the crushed door knob.

* * *

"...ha…noha….Nanoha!"

Nanoha Takamachi gasped, covering her eyes from the blinding light. Nanoha's mind was running a hundred miles an hour. She remembered the Grim Reaper and her Intelligence Device, Bardiche, cutting her in half. Was this heaven?

As her eyes began to adjust to the lighting, Nanoha became aware of her surroundings. She wasn't in heaven; she was sleeping on a comfortable couch in a very spacious living room. The place was very bare, having only the essential furniture and electronics. There was a balcony on the opposite side of the room, which gave a spectacular view of Uminari City. Nanoha assumed that she was in the Seashell Towers, a very expensive apartment complex.

Nanoha pushed the wool covers off her as she sat up, wincing from the sharp pain in her abdomen. She looked down at her chest, which was completely wrapped in several rolls of bandages, and was aware of the soft pad that was taped to her swollen eye.

"I wouldn't move too much, you're injuries haven't healed yet," squeaked a small voice.

Nanoha looked toward the chair across the table, finding the familiar teal-haired and bejeweled forehead of Admiral Lindy Harlaown, drinking a cup of green tea filled with copious amounts of sugar, much to Nanoha's disgust. She had only met the admiral a handful of times, but this was the first she had seen her in casual clothes: a white, collared shirt with an olive vest, a brown skirt, and gray stockings.

Nanoha followed the admiral to her shoulder, where she spotted the golden-haired ferret that often sleep during the night in Nanoha's basket. It had been over a year since she had taken the ferret in as the family pet, but she still found it surprising that her pet was actually an archeologist for the TSAB, Yuuno Scrya.

"Yuuno-kun, Lindy-san," said Nanoha weakly. "Where am I?"

"You're in my apartment," said Lindy. "It's a little safe house I established on Earth so we could observe any unusual activates more closely. The whole complex is protected by layers of magical barriers, so we don't have to worry about anyone finding us here."

"Lindy-san called your family and said you were sleeping over at a friend's so they wouldn't get worried," said Yuuno. "The wounds on your chest are easy to cover, but we'll have to come up with an excuse for your eye."

"Where is – " Nanoha began, but started coughing violently.

"Drink this," said Lindy, offering Nanoha some green tea. She knew that Lindy had put over a dozen cubes of sugar in it, but her throat hurt so badly that she didn't care how disgusting it tasted. "You don't realize how lucky you were. Raising Heart managed to send a distress signal to Yuuno before you lost consciousness. I was able to send a rescue party to recover you from the ocean before the police got word. All of my men are loyal to me, so you don't have to worry about them telling the TSAB."

"I trust them," said Nanoha, doing her best not to hurl. "What happened to that other girl? The Grim Reaper?"

"She got away before the rescue party arrived," said Lindy, frowning. "Sources say that she collected her payment from the Leviathan and left the planet. You got lucky this time, Nanoha. Very few people come out of a fight with the Grim Reaper alive. Your wounds were very extensive that they required major surgery. I can't tell you how scared I was when your heart started flatlining."

"She was so powerful," said Nanoha. Her hands were shaking and she grabbed a bundle of the blankets. "I threw every spell that I had against her and she blew them away like they were nothing. She's been practicing for years and…and…kami, what have I been doing all this time?"

"Nanoha, you can't be too hard on yourself," said Yuuno kindly. "Even mages with decades of experience would lose to someone like the Grim Reaper. You should consider yourself lucky to be alive at all." Nanoha said nothing, lowering her head to cover her eyes.

"I was watching the news report earlier," said Lindy. "Every channel is the same thing: everyone thinks that the White Devil is dead. Maybe…maybe it would be better if she did die." Yuuno's ears peeked curiously. "Think about it. If the White Devil is dead, the TSAB will stop hunting Nanoha and she won't have to keep risking her life out in the streets."

Lindy got up from her feet and walked around the table, kneeling next to Nanoha, who had remained silent the whole time.

"I know you want to help people, but you're just a ten year-old girl," said Lindy softly. "You shouldn't be forced to carry this kind of burden." She held out her hand. "Give me Raising Heart. I can tell the High Council it was all I could find. The TSAB will think you're gone and you can go back to a normal life."

The apartment went quiet; Yuuno looked worriedly between Nanoha and the Admiral. Slowly, Nanoha reached for the Intelligent Device around her neck, but instead of removing it, she clenched her fist around the jewel.

"No," said Nanoha shortly. "I'm not giving up Raising Heart. I still need her to fight."

"You don't have to keep fighting, Nanoha," said Lindy, sounding apprehensive. "You can give all of this up. The White Devil can be put to rest and Nanoha Takamachi can just be an ordinary fourth grader again."

"Isn't that the same as running away?" said Nanoha. "If I give up on being the White Devil, what do you think will happen? Do you think that the Leviathan won't stop hurting people just because the White Devil is gone? No, more people will suffer like Alisa. I can't stop being the White Devil because I lost one fight. The White Devil is the only thing that gives the people hope. The White Devil is the reason criminals are too scared to step out of the shadows. I have to – no, I need to keep fighting. Because this city deserves a hero."

"But if they find out you're alive, the Grim Reaper might come back to finish the job," said Yuuno.

"That's why I need to get stronger," said Nanoha determinedly. She raised her head and stared at Lindy and Yuuno; there was a fire in her eyes they had never seen before. "But I can't do it alone. I don't know anything about magic or Intelligence Device or the TSAB. If I go against the Grim Reaper like I am now, I'll really die this time. That's why I'm asking for your help."

"Nanoha…" Lindy and Yuuno murmured softly.

"I know I'm asking a lot," said Nanoha, "with Lindy-san getting in trouble with her bosses and Yuuno-kun being trapped the way he is. But if someone like the Grim Reaper tries to attack, I need to be ready for them. So…I'm begging you…" Yuuno and Lindy gasped in concern as Nanoha forced herself off the couch, hissing harshly from her injuries. They wanted nothing more than to tell her to stop, but their voices were caught in their throats. Nanoha finally managed to pull herself into a kneeling position with her head bow to the floor. "Please…help me protect this city."

Yuuno and Lindy shared concerned looks between them. It was wrong for a ten year-old to carry the burden of the world on her shoulders. But to see Nanoha so desperate to protect the people she loved that she would be willing to throw herself on her knees, begging for help was too much for them to take. Lindy looked at Yuuno one last time, who had given his silent answer, and spoke for them both.

"Shall we get started then?"

* * *

**I just want to congratulate myself for managing to create this whole chapter without having to follow a script. It was very long for someone who had never done anything beyond parodies and I feel that the fight scenes might have been awkward, but I wouldn't say it was half bad. I'm really hoping that I managed to capture Nanoha's emotional burden at the end and show how desperate she is to protect Uminari City and the people in it.**

**In the next chapter, Nanoha begins her training to become a stronger mage and a new supervillain comes to town. Will Nanoha be able to overcome this grievous defeat? Will the Grim Reaper return to finish the White Devil for good? And if so, will she have what it takes to stand against her? Find out next time on The – White – Devil!**


	4. Devil's Graveyard

**The White Devil**

**Disclaimer**: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is not under my ownership, I honestly don't know who owns it.

* * *

**Episode Three: Devil's Graveyard**

Nanoha had not been looking forward to greeting her family when she came home that morning only hours after having a close brush with death. Thanks to Lindy's immediate medical aid, most of her injuries had been healed and the wide scar on her chest was easy to hide, but she had a lot of explaining to do when they saw the bandages over her eye. Shiro cried bloody murder, threatening to eviscerate the person who hurt his "sweet, little angel" – Momoko remained calm and poised as always. Nanoha managed to explain away that she had accidentally hit her eye on a railing. The Takamachis accepted the excuse easily…almost too easily, thought Nanoha.

Nanoha's mind was still reeling from the events that transpired only just yesterday. She had been flying around the city as the White Devil for over a year and it was only after she had been soundly beaten by the Grim Reaper did Nanoha realize how weak she was. The Grim Reaper knew decade's worth of magic and the most Nanoha knew was three spells. It was pathetic. She couldn't keep going like this, not when there were real threats out there. That was why she practically begged Yuuno to teach her.

As much as she wanted to start learning right away, there was another promise she needed to keep.

That was what led her and Suzuka to the Uminari Cemetery this misty Saturday morning. Both of them just stood back as Alisa kneeled in front of the granite tombstone of her parents, holding a bouquet of flowers. She looked like she wanted to cry, but refused to. That would only mean that the Leviathan had won. Seeing Alisa like this made Nanoha ponder her family's reactions if the Grim Reaper had finished her off. The thought only strengthened her resolve.

"Hi, mama," said Alisa softly, resting the bouquet on the tombstone. "Hi, papa. It's me, Alisa. I really miss you two. The Tsukimuras have been taking really good care of me just like they promised. Suzuka and I have a lot of fun together and sometimes we play with Shinobu-nee-chan, tough I still think she's really a vampire in disguise."

"Stop saying that already!" Suzuka whined.

"Then how do you explain her spending late nights out?" Alisa retorted. "And every time we have dinner, she only eats red foods?"

"She has night classes and she's on a special diet!" Suzuka snapped.

"Uh, guys, memorial going on," said Nanoha, laughing softly.

"Oh right," said Alisa, turning back to her parent's tombstones. "Anyway, I've gotten better since you two have been gone. I have lots of friends helping me like Suzuka, Shinobu-nee-chan, Farin, Noel, and Nanoha…when she's not ditching us to do something she can't tell us about." Nanoha laughed nervously. Alisa bowed her head solemnly. "Mama, papa, I swear that one day I'm going to avenge you. I'm going to take down the Mizuiro Kaiju even if I have to choke him with my own two hands."

"You shouldn't say stuff like that, Alisa," said Nanoha worriedly. "I know that you're really angry, but there's no way a little girl like you can match up against Mizuiro Kaiju. Please just forget about him. Your mama and papa wouldn't want you to put yourself in danger."

"We'll never know what they wanted, now will we?" said Alisa harshly.

Nanoha didn't know what to say at that point, but she knew that she should say something or else Alisa would become consumed with revenge. Nanoha read her big brother's entire stack of 'Naruto' manga to know that, as cliché as it may seem, when your best friend wants revenge, they usually turn become your archenemy. Nanoha didn't want to imagine what kind of crazy, over-the-top supervillain costume Alisa would pick out for herself.

Nanoha's train of thought was lost when she heard a loud wailing from nearby. It sounded like someone was crying. Nanoha, Alisa, and Suzuka looked down four rows of gravestones, sighting a man sobbing uncontrollably as he shoveled dirt into a new plot. The man was very large in both height and width, roughly twice the size of Nanoha's father, with pale-white skin and completely hairless. His sense of fashion seemed very limited to a red shirt and blue overalls, both of which was roughly torn.

The very large man chocked another sob as he shoveled another mound of dirt into the half-filled plot. Nanoha inwardly thought he resembled an overgrown toddler.

"Who's that?" asked Nanoha.

"He's the groundskeeper for the cemetery," said Alisa. "He's the guy in charge for burying people. Not really sure what his name is but everyone around here just calls him the Gravekeeper. I heard from another guy that his family has been working in the cemetery for years – kind of a creepy place to raise a kid, don't you think?"

"Aw, he looks so sad," said Suzuka sympathetically. "Maybe we can cheer him up."

"Gurk! Suzuka, wait a minute!" Alisa screamed as she and Nanoha chased after her.

"Hello!" called Suzuka cheerfully, waving her hand with a smile. The Gravekeeper blinked stupidly for a minute, acting like he hadn't heard correctly, then turned as Suzuka, Nanoha, and Alisa stopped in front of him. His eyes were very out of focus, like he had never seen another human before. "Hello, Mr. Gravekeeper. I'm Suzuka Tsukimura. And these are my friends, Nanoha Takamachi and Alisa Bannings."

"We don't need to tell him that!" hissed Alisa. "Didn't your parents ever tell you not to talk to strangers?"

"But he looked so sad," said Suzuka. "We couldn't just leave him here."

"Yes, we can," sneered Alisa.

"Excuse me, Mr. Gravekeeper, but why are you crying?" said Nanoha. Alisa shot her a look of betrayal. Nanoha's eyes moved from the half-filled plot to the tombstone just above it, which possessed only a name: 'Hikari Taisho'. "This grave…does it belong to someone you know?"

"Hiki…friend…" said the Gravekeeper slowly. He didn't just look stupid, but he seemed intellectually stunted, not that Nanoha would ever say it out loud – that would be rude. "Me…bury friend…me…not want lose friend."

"So that person was your friend?" gasped Suzuka. "That's terrible. Do any of your other friends know about this?"

"Me…have no friends," said the Gravekeeper. Alisa nearly gagged when he wiped his snot-drenched lip with his shirt sleeve. "Me wish…friend stay with me. Me wish had more friends…me want new friends."

"I'm so sorry," said Suzuka kindly, patting his arm, taking great care to avoid the snot. "If you're lonely, maybe we could be your friends."

"What?" Alisa shrieked.

"Friend?" said the Gravekeeper slowly. Even when he kneeled down, he still reached a good five feet above Suzuka. "Suzy…want be friend…with me."

"It's Suzuka," she said, "but yes, I'd love to be your friend. You can never have too many friends, right? I bet Nanoha and Alisa will – "

Alisa quickly stepped forward and slapped a hand over Suzuka's mouth, pulled her back, and told the Gravekeeper, "Er – could you excuse us for a moment?" She grabbed Suzuka by the collar and Nanoha by the wrist, putting a short distance between them and the Gravekeeper. The overgrown man was still staring at the spot Suzuka had been standing as if he hadn't noticed she had gone missing. Alisa shot a quick glance at the Gravekeeper and didn't bother to hide her disgust, saying:

"Are you out of your mind, Suzuka? What do you think doing trying to make friends with that weirdo. He's an undertaker. He's big, and stupid, and I'll bet five hundred yen his idea of making friends is burying people alive."

"Alisa, you big jerk!" snapped Suzuka. "Don't go calling people mean things like that! Sure he might be a little bigger than most people and he may be a little slow, but that doesn't mean you have to insult him like that! He just lost a friend, so the least you can do is try to be nice to him!"

"There's something seriously creepy about that guy!" yelled Alisa, pointing at the Gravekeeper. He was still staring at the spot. "You need to stay away from him! He's bad news, I can tell! Back me up here, Nanoha!"

"Nanoha, please tell this rude person that she is wrong," said Suzuka, turning her head in a huff.

Nanoha only stood there, laughing nervously. It was sadly common practice for Nanoha to be the middleman between Alisa and Suzuka's fights whether it's about the complications of social economics or deciding who got the last piece of chocolate cake. If it wasn't for the fact that they secretly like-liked each other, Nanoha was sure they wouldn't have been friends in the first place.

Luckily, Nanoha was saved from intermediary duty when Raising Heart started beeping loudly under her shirt. Alisa and Suzuka acted like they couldn't hear the buzzing noise and that was because they couldn't. Raising Heart's communications had been set on a frequency that only Nanoha could hear telepathically. Nanoha looked at her friends – Alisa was glaring and Suzuka was pouting – and carefully pulled out Raising Heart. The Intelligence Device glowed as it spoke directly into Nanoha's mind.

"**Master, you are requested to meet at Admiral Harlaown's household in one hour for training.**"

"Uh…Alisa, Suzuka, I'm sorry," said Nanoha apologetically, earning the stares of her friends. "I just remembered I have er…extra lessons that I need to attend. You know…for school and stuff." She turned on her heel and made a dash for the graveyard entrance, waving back to her friends. "I'll make it up to you tomorrow! I'll bring some of my mama's famous strawberry cheesecake for lunch!"

"Bye, Nanoha!" shouted Suzuka.

"Geez, that Nanoha," grumbled Alisa. "Always flaking out on us."

Though Nanoha's abrupt leaving did one good thing in making Alisa and Suzuka forget their little squabble. Both girls apologized and Suzuka grabbed Alisa's hand with the promise of Noel, Suzuka's personal maid, making those sugar cookies she likes so much. Alisa cheered and practically dragged Suzuka back to the mansion. Neither of them noticed the Gravekeeper staring intently at the back of Suzuka's head.

* * *

"Keep a calm and focused mind, Nanoha," said Yuuno. "Don't rush yourself – that will only lead to mistakes. Wait for the right moment before taking action."

"It sounds so much easier when you say it," grumbled Nanoha.

When Nanoha had arrived at Lindy's apartment for training, she would have expected to be using a secret underground training facility like in those superhero cartoons, not sitting cross-legged on the floor across from her ferrety teacher. Between them was Raising Heart acting as the bridge between their mental states. When Yuuno asked her to close her eyes, she thought they were going to do those weird mediation technique her father is always teaching her. But when Yuuno asked her to open them, she did he best not to scream.

She was floating in an endless sea of clouds, Barrier Jacket equipped and Raising Heart armed. Yuuno quickly soothed Nanoha's panicked state as he explained that they had entered into a mental training ground often used by TSAB officers-in-training. Yuuno said it was more efficient because if she could master spells in her mental state, they would be ten times easier to use in her physical state. With that thought in mind, Nanoha gripped Raising Heart tighter as winged bull's-eye targets started popping up behind the clouds.

"Don't lose focus, Nanoha," said Yuuno. "Remember, this training is simply to see where you stand in skill level. Since you are a Divine-Type user, your abilities are with best mid-to-long-range spells."

"Divine-Type?" Nanoha repeated.

"A mage's Mana usually has an affinity for a specific element," said Yuuno, "though very few ever learn what that affinity is. Your affinity is an extremely rare Divine-Type so it stands to reason that you specialty lies in Shooting Spells. From Raising Heart's records, the Grim Reaper is a Lightning-Type, a person who specializes in speed and close-range combat. Normally, Divine-Types would have the advantage, but…"

"But I'm still to inexperience to use my affinity-type," said Nanoha. She grunted, waving Raising Heart in the direction of the targets. Six Divine spheres popped into existence around the staff head, equal to the number of targets. "Then that just means we'll have to get better, won't we, Raising Heart?"

"**Of course, Master**," said Raising Heart.

"I've got to catch up with her…so that I can protect this city," said Nanoha firmly. The Divine sphere unexpectedly shrunk, but Nanoha didn't notice. "Let's go! **Divine Shooter!**"

The six pink lights flew so fast that Nanoha was actually thrown back by the recoil. The Divine Spheres were not only noticeably smaller, but also twice as fast. The winged targets, which had been programmed to move when approached, were couldn't dodge before the Divine spheres exploded on the surface. Most of them landed a direct hit in the center and shattered the targets to pieces, but two had only been clipped by the edges – they had been hit, but they were still moving.

Sighing to herself, both from disappointment and mental exhaustion, Nanoha closed her eyes and allowed her body to relax. When she opened them again, she was back in Lindy's apartment with her legs very sore and Yuuno crawling onto her shoulder, giving Nanoha's head a gentle pat. She couldn't figure out who was the pet in this situation.

"That was a very good first try, Nanoha," chirped Yuuno. "Condensing your magic does conserve energy and increases the strength of your attacks, but it also makes it more difficult to steer. Although that might not be entirely your fault. Raising Heart's current design isn't meant for long-range combat. Maybe we should consider using a secondary mode specifically for Shooting Spells."

"**I will begin analysis for potential systems change,**" said Raising Heart.

"Ugh, I'm exhausted!" Nanoha whined as she fell back. She failed to hear Yuuno's cries of panic or notice that she had landed on top of him. "I didn't think using all this brain training would wear me out so much."

"The brain is the control for the body," said Lindy, who had just walked into the room with a newspaper and a cup of sugar-loaded green tea. "If you think you're tired, chances are that your body will also believe it is tired. I believe the people on Earth call it 'Mind over Matter' or something like that." She stepped over Nanoha and took a seat on the couch, her brows creased while her eyes roamed the paper. "Hey, Nanoha, have you heard anything about missing students at your school."

"Not really," said Nanoha, sitting up. Yuuno took a deep breath of sweet relief. "Why?"

"Because a fifth-grade girl from Seishou Elementary went missing a few days ago," said Lindy, taking a sip of her mug. "According to her friends, she was walking home from school before she disappeared. Her name is Hikari Taisho. Seen her before?"

"Can't say I have since we are in different grades," said Nanoha thoughtfully. "Though for some reason, the name sounds very familiar…" She was cut off by a loud, electronic ringing emanating from her pocket. Nanoha reached inside, pulled out her cellphone, and flipped it open to answer. "Hello?"

"**Hello, Nanoha,**" said Suzuka over the line. "**Are you still at your extra lessons? You sound kind of tired…"**

"Yeah…extra lessons," said Nanoha nervously. Lindy looked amused as she slowly sipped her sugar tea. "So, what was the reason you called me? Not to be rude or anything, but I am still in the middle of lessons…" She glanced back at Yuuno, who was still on the floor, gasping for oxygen. "Although the teacher is a little lazy."

"Hey!" snapped Yuuno.

"**I'm heading home from my violin lessons**," said Suzuka. "**I stopped by Midori-ya to pick up some bread for Noel and Farin and talked to your mama and papa for a little**." Nanoha started to sweat a little, hoping she had misheard. "**They sounded a little surprised when I told them you had extra lessons. Didn't you tell them?**"

"I was…going to…eventually," said Nanoha slowly.

"**It's not good to keep secrets from your mama and papa,**" Suzuka scolded. Nanoha flinched. She didn't understand why, but being scolded by Suzuka seemed ten times worse than when she was being scolded by her mother and father. "**I really think you should tell them about this when you – AHH!**"

"Suzuka!" yelled Nanoha worriedly. "Are you all right, Suzuka?"

"**I'm okay, Nanoha,**" said Suzuka. "**I just bumped into Mr. Gravekeeper from this morning – literally. Hold on a minute.**" Nanoha could barely hear her voice through the receiver now. "**Excuse me, Mr. Gravekeeper, are you okay. You aren't lost, are you? Mr. Gravekeeper…Mr. Gravekeeper, what are you – AHH!**"

Nanoha pulled the phone away from her ear when Suzuka started shrieking into her receiver. It was a scream of surprise like the last one – this time she sounded utterly terrified. Nanoha listened closely to the sound of brief scuffling, a piercing sob, a sudden clatter, and then the only thing Nanoha could hear through the phone was heavy static.

"Suzuka! Suzuka!" Nanoha screamed.

"What's happening?" asked Lindy, putting down her mug.

"Suzuka's been kidnapped by that man from the graveyard this morning," said Nanoha, jumping to her feet. She ripped Raising Hearts gem roughly enough to leave a red mark on her neck and summoned her Intelligence Device in its staff form. "I need to go rescue her. And by me, I mean the White Devil."

"Do you even know where they're going?" said Lindy coolly, going into what Nanoha dubbed as 'Admiral Mode'. "If Suzuka was just at Midori-ya several minutes ago, then she has to be at least a mile north or south of that direction based on the structure of the city. It is unlikely that they took the buses, so that means they could be somewhere in the market district, the shipping yard, or the…"

"The Uminari Cemetary," said Nanoha, struck by sudden realization. "Suzuka would have to pass it is she was on her way back home from Midori-ya and it's where that…that…Gravekeeper lives. I also remembered the name of the grave he was filling this morning: Hikari Taisho, the girl who went missing a few days ago." She turned and dashed across the room toward the door. "I need to find her quick!"

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" said Lindy. "Your injures from your fight with the Grim Reaper haven't healed yet and you're still exhausted from your first lesson."

"Well I can't just sit here while Suzuka is in trouble," said Nanoha firmly. "When I became the White Devil, I made a promise that I would do everything in my power to protect people." She looked back at Yuuno and Lindy's worried faces and grinned. "Don't worry; I don't plan on dying, not until I've surpassed the Grim Reaper. She's my goal. I won't lose to anyone until I've met her again."

Nanoha reached up to the bandage covering her left eye and ripped the cloth away as fast as she could, seeking to emphasize her determination. Although, in retrospect, it might not have been a good idea to do it so roughly. When she ripped off the bandages, Nanoha managed to pluck off several of her eyelashes and now her eye was burning as if someone had squirted it with lemon juice. Yuuno and Lindy stared blankly at the little girl rolling on the floor screaming in pain, wondering if she was going to be all right.

* * *

It was dark, it was cold, and it was scary. This was the only the only way Suzuka could describe it.

Being grabbed by the Gravekeeper and carried through the streets in the dead of night, Suzuka was doing her best to fight back the frightened tears that threatened to spill. The Gravekeeper had dragged her back to the Uminari Graveyard by the scruff of her neck, passing the graves of Taisho and the Bannings, and threw Suzuka unceremoniously into an empty plot. Suzuka landed on her stomach, knocking all the wind out of her. She felt the dirt with her fingers; this grave had been dug recently.

She sat up very slowly, wheezing softly, and turned her eyes above. She couldn't see the Gravekeeper, but could hear his heavy footfalls getting softer. She noticed a small gravestone over the edge of the pit and allowed herself to cry as she read the freshly etched words in the granite:

**SUZUKA TSUKIMURA**

That was about all Suzuka could take. He grabbed the wall of dirt and tried to climb her way out of the grave, but she could find a foothold in the dirt and soil was too hard for her fingers to dig into. Suzuka tried jumping to the top even though she knew that was too small to reach it. Her feeble attempts stopped when she heard the thunderous footfalls of the Gravekeeper getting closer, dropping on her behind and staring up as the hulking man appeared over the edge, a shovel slung over his shoulder.

"Please let me out, Mr. Gravekeeper!" Suzuka pleaded. "Please let me go! I just want to go home!"

"Friend…no leave…" said the Gravekeeper slowly. "Friend stay…with me…Suzy…friend…"

"That's right, we're friends," said Suzuka, sounding desperate. "And since we're friends, you'll let me go, right?"

"No friend leave...," said the Gravekeeper. "Friend…stay with…me…forever. Hiki try leave me…friend no leave me…me make friend stay…friend stay forever." The Gravekeeper reached over to the side with his shovel, picking up a large pile of dirt. "Now Suzy friend. Suzy stay…with me…have many friends. Suzy stay…with me…forever."

"You don't have to – blegh!" Suzuka sputtered as the Gravekeeper dumped the dirt on her head, nearly burying her entirely in one scoop. Suzuka crawled her way out of the pile; cough up a mouthful of soil. "Please, let – Ugh!" A second scoop; Suzuka was half buried. "Please st – Urk!" A third scoop; Suzuka couldn't feel her legs. Tears were now flowing down her face. "Please! Someone help me!"

The Gravekeeper scooped another mound of dirt, this one much bigger than the others, and turned toward the grave when a bright light appeared in the distance. Given his short attention span, the Gravekeeper dropped his load and stared stupidly at the floating pink light that was zooming across the cemetery. Whether he knew it or not, the pink light slammed into the Gravekeeper's face and exploded on impact, kicking up a large cloud of smoke.

Suzuka stared up in wonderment as the Gravekeeper faded into the smoke cloud when she heard a pair of rushed footsteps sliding to the edge of her grave. And then she saw her. Suzuka had only heard about her in the news and Lt. Yagami's rants, but had never seen her in real life. The flowing white cloth glimmering in the moonlight, the glinting magic scepter, and her steely eyes that pierced through the darkness. It was the White Devil. Suzuka started crying again, but this time for joy.

"Suzu – I mean, Miss Tsukimura, are you okay?" asked the White Devil.

"The White Devil!" Suzuka shouted happily. "But how? Everyone said you were dead!"

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear," said the White Devil jokingly. "Just hang tight, I'll have you out in a minute."

"Thank you so – look out!" shrieked Suzuka.

"Eh?" said the White Devil dumbfounded.

Before the White Devil realized it, she was struck over the head by something very hard with a metallic clang to it and was sent flailing into a pair of tombstones. The granite memorials were broken into several pieces upon collision and the White Devil hit the ground with enough force to leave an imprint. The White Devil groaned weakly, sat up, rubbed her eyes to clear her blurry vision, and stared up. The Gravekeeper was swinging his shovel around the spot where the White Devil had been, growling like an animal that was fighting for its food.

"What the heck?" The White Devil complained, jumping back up. "Dude, you hit me with a shovel!"

"Suzy…me friend!" yelled the Gravekeeper. "Little white thing…no take me Suzy friend. Suzy friend stay…with me…forever!"

"Well, Suzy friend is not – never – that is um…," said the White Devil, sounding very confused. "Ah, forget it. I'm taking the girl and you're going to jail for a very long time."

"**That's telling him, Master,**" said Raising Heart.

"I don't remember you having a sarcasm function," said the White Devil.

"Little white thing no take Suzy friend!" howled the Gravekeeper.

The Gravekeeper, flailing his shovel around like it was a wrecking ball, stomped over to the White Devil, though she noticed he made an effort to avoid stepping on the gravestones. With a cry for '**Divine Shooter**', the White Devil charged four Divine spheres around the head of Raising Heart and pushed them forward to meet with the Gravekeeper, who either did not try to dodge or couldn't. The Divine sphere exploded on his chest, left arm, left leg, and face, but the Gravekeeper did not stop or even wince. The White Devil was flabbergasted. Was he too stupid to notice a bomb went off in his face?

The Gravekeeper stopped short of the White Devil, grabbing the handle of his shovel and taking a swing at her. The White Devil jumped into the air and landed precariously on the tombstone behind her. The White Devil considered herself lucky. The Gravekeeper had ripped a wide tear in the dirt where she had been standing, which was amazing considering his weapon of choice was a rusty shovel. It took the Gravekeeper ten seconds for his brain to catch up and realize he hadn't hit the White Devil.

He snapped his head up, creating a sickly cracking sound that churned the White Devil's stomach, and growled. The Gravekeeper stabbed his shovel like a knife, which the White Devil easily avoided by tipping herself to the edge of the tombstone. But what the White Devil hadn't been expecting was the shockwaves from the strike that blew her off and sent her tumbling into the grass.

The White Devil picked herself up, wiping her left eye – it was stinging even worse now. When she heard the Gravekeeper's heavy stomp from behind, the White Devil rolled aside as he stabbed his shovel into the ground, burying halfway into the Earth. The White Devil took then opportunity while the Gravekeeper tried to unearth his shovel and swung Raising Heart around for the man's stomach. To the White Devil's surprise, Raising Heart bounced off the Gravekeeper's skin as if it were made of rubber, causing her to stumble from the recoil.

"Raising Heart, what's going on here?" asked the White Devil. "I'm throwing everything I've got at him and brushing them off like were a couple of flies."

"**Analysis confirms that Subject: Gravekeeper possesses three times the normal quantity of mass found in humans,**" said Raising Heart. "**This unusual density permits Subject: Gravekeeper to possess increased muscular capabilities as well as above-average endurance. Based on her current level of strength and the lack of non-bladed armaments, Master cannot harm Subject: Gravekeeper externally.**"

"So the short version is I can't hurt him," said the White Devil. "Well that's just perfect. How am I supposed to beat him then?"

Raising Heart didn't have a chance to respond –assuming that she would – as the Gravekeeper ripped his shovel from the ground with a beastly howl. The Gravekeeper rounded to the White Devil, bring around his shovel like a baseball bat. The White Devil jumped and glided out of his reach while the Gravekeeper smashed his way through three sets of tombstones, turning the memorials into a fine powder.

The White Devil touched back on the ground a few feet away from Suzuka's hole. She could hear Suzuka shuffling inside, wondering what was going on above her head. I need to get Suzuka out of here soon, thought the White Devil.

Then she heard something she hadn't before. It sounded like a wounded animal. The White Devil peeked her head over the tombstone in front of her, surprised to see that the Gravekeeper was sobbing at the tombstones he had just destroyed. How odd.

"Me friends!" wailed the Gravekeeper. He turned his head around so far that it looked like he was about to snap his neck, glaring at the White Devil's head poking out from behind the grave. "Little white thing hurt me friend! Me hurt little white thing! Little White – ACK!"

The White Devil was taken aback when the Gravekeeper started hopping up and down with his hands covering his mouth, crying like a whimpering child. It looked like he had bit his own tongue. While she found it peculiar that the Gravekeeper could take the full brunt of her Divine Shooter yet be brought to tears by biting his own tongue, it did give her an idea.

She made sure that Gravekeeper was wholly distracted by his 'wound' before she made a dash to a specific grave a few feet from Suzuka's plot. Hikari Taisho's grave wasn't that difficult to find – it was the only one that had been freshly filled. The White Devil stared over her shoulder. It looked like the Gravekeeper was finally starting to settle down. Taking a deep breath, the White Devil stood to the side so that the Gravekeeper could have a clear view of the grave and summoned a Divine sphere from the head of her staff.

"I'm probably going to be cursed for this, but…," said the White Devil. "Hey, Gravekeeper! These graves are your friends, right?"

When the White Devil knew the Gravekeeper was watching, she gave the silent command and obliterated the headstone. Just as she had been counting on, the Gravekeeper howled in a fanatical rage, unconsciously snapping his shovel in two.

"Little white thing break friend!" screamed the Gravekeeper, beginning his one-man stampede. "Now me break little white thing."

"No, Gravekeeper!" said Nanoha. She held Raising Heart out toward the Gravekeeper, creating a single Divine sphere. Just like she had done during her training, the White Devil condensed the mass within the sphere. "This time, I break you! **Divine Shooter!**"

The Divine sphere exploded from Raising Heart's head with enough force that threw the White Devil on her behind. The Divine sphere had started down its intended path, but then began to show a curve that was starting to fall in the direction of Suzuka's grave. Feeling a slight panic in her heart, the White held out her hand as if to grab the Mana ball and willed it to change its course. The White Devil feared she would collapse under the strain, only allowing herself when the Divine sphere did a complete loop around the headstone, shot toward the Gravekeeper, and flew into his large mouth.

The Gravekeeper didn't notice that he had swallowed a ball of sakura Mana – he was too busy screaming at the White Devil. As the Gravekeeper began to overshadow her, the White Devil was afraid her plan had failed. And then she heard something strange: it sounded like a muffled explosion. The White Devil stared up at the Gravekeeper, who had stopped short of pounding her into a new grave. He coughed up a cloud of black smoke and his eyes looked even more unfocused than normal. The Gravekeeper began to teeter on his feet and the White Devil stepped to the side before he collapsed face-first on the ground, crushing another gravestone under his weight.

"Yeah, we're definitely going to be cursed after tonight," said the White Devil.

"**I have sent an anonymous tip to the UCPD, Master,**" said Raising Heart. "**Their estimated time of arrival is ten minutes.**"

"Thanks, Raising Heart," said the White Devil. "We should get out of here before Signum tries to have me arrested."

"Hello, is anyone still out there!" shouted Suzuka. The White Devil slapped her forehead; she had almost forgotten about her. The Devil dashed over to the plot, kneeling to the edge as she looked down. "White Devil, you're all right! What about Mr. Gravekeeper?"

"He won't be causing any more trouble," said the White Devil coolly, holding out Raising Heart to Suzuka. "Grab on and I'll pull you out."

There was still a little bit of distance between them so Suzuka had to jump up to grasp Raising Heart's shaft. When Suzuka's finger touched the Intelligence Device, The White Devil felt a chill run down her spine, as if a bucket of ice had been poured down her shirt. She brushed this off; it must have been the cool night air. The White Devil pulled as hard as she could and Suzuka climbed over the edge of the plot, looking very relieved.

"Thank you, thank you," Suzuka said gratefully to the White Devil.

"It's no trouble," said the White Devil. Hearing the familiar sirens in the distance, she quickly started her ascension to the sky. "Stay where you are. The police will soon be here to pick you up. Just telling them everything that happened and that the Gravekeeper is the only responsible for the missing children. They can find the bodies in freshly dug graves."

"Wait a minute!" shouted Suzuka as the White Devil started to float away. "You saved my life. How can I ever thank you?"

"…It's my mission to make sure that you don't ever have to," said the White Devil, sounding very serious. "There are a lot of good people in this city. They deserve to know that there is someone who will always be there to protect them. That, in my opinion, is what it means to be a hero."

Suzuka stared at the White Devil in awe. Smiling under her mask, the White Devil took off into the night sky just as Lt. Yagami and the UCPD began to arrive at the cemetery entrance. The White Devil didn't realize that a random pedestrian had been watching her front the street, holding up his camera phone.

* * *

It was midmorning the next day at the Tsukimura mansion. Just like she had promised, Nanoha had arrived at the mansion carrying her mother's famous strawberry cheesecake, being directed to the gardens by Farin, who somehow managed to trip on her own shoelaces. Sitting around the table in the Tsukimura's massive garden, eating cheesecake and drinking tea, Suzuka regaled Nanoha and Alisa her thrilling tale of last night. Nanoha did her best to look surprised and hide her grin when Suzuka exaggerated a bit of the White Devil's heroics.

"I'm happy you're not hurt, Suzuka," said Nanoha, taking a sip of tea. "It's a good thing that the White Devil showed up when she did. I guess that means she's not dead after all. To be honest, I'm kind of relieved to hear that."

"I told you that Gravekeeper guy was bad news," Alisa ranted smugly. "You owe me five hundred yen." She took a larger bite than necessary out of her slice of cheesecake, still speaking while her cheeks were stuffed. "But in a way, you are so lucky. I would give anything to meet the White Devil in person. I bet she is really cool up close."

"I'll bet she is," said Nanoha giggling.

"After Lt. Yagami brought me home, someone said they caught a picture of the White Devil last night," said Suzuka excitedly. "Everyone's talking about how the White Devil has come back from the dead. It's in all the newspapers and late night talk shows. I bet everyone in Uminari City will be happy to know that the White Devil isn't really gone."

"I wouldn't say everyone," said Nanoha, grinning knowingly.

* * *

Mizuiro Kaiju was a very happy man. He may have lost fifty million dollars' worth of credits that will most likely set him back by several years, but it was money well spent now that the White Devil was out of his hair. The normally composed business man was now in his office in his loose collar shirt and boxer shorts, dancing to 'Old Time Rock N' Roll'. The underground crime lord was so giddy that he wasn't the least bit embarrassed when his assistant walked into the office. If she was surprised or embarrassed, she sure didn't show it – her expression was utterly blank.

"Mr. Kaiju, I have something you really need to see," said the assistant.

"Not now, Julie, can't see I'm in the middle of something?" said Mizuiro happily. He jumped on his desk and started strumming the air guitar. "Come back later!"

"But Mr. Kaiju, this is very important and needs your immediate attention," said Julie urgently.

"Whatever it is, it can wait!" said Mizuiro. "The White Devil is finally dead! Nothing could bring me down!"

"Wanna bet," Julie challenged.

Julie reached for the item she had been carrying under her arm and tossed it on Mizuiro's desk just below his feet. The man also known as the Leviathan raised a brow and bended down to retrieve the object his assistant unceremoniously threw at him. It was a newspaper and his good mood immediately dropped the moment his eyes fell on the black-and-white photograph complete with large bold headline:

**WHITE DEVIL RISES FROM THE GRAVE**

The sound of the Leviathan's anguished wails from across the city was like music to Nanoha's ears.

* * *

**Sorry it took a while to get this one up – the desire to make the story as good as possible combined with the necessity for motivation can delay the writing process. But on the bright side, the White Devil has made her dramatic return from the grave and now the villains of Uminari City that the White Devil is not that easy to kill. In the next chapter, Nanoha will come face to face with her most dangerous enemy of all as she goes up against the homicidal sociopath, Bleed. Will Nanoha come out of this battle alive, or with the man called Bleed drown Uminari in its own blood. Find out next time on The White Devil!**


	5. Bleed

**The White Devil**

**Disclaimer**: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is not under my ownership, I honestly don't know who owns it.

* * *

**Episode Four: Bleed**

As the season was growing closer to the winter, it was around this time that many of Uminari City's wealthiest and most successful families would get together for their annual "charity" ball. Though it was referred to a charity ball in name only. In truth, the evening was designed to pass business secrets between one another and to flaunt their money, showing those who were less fortunate than them where they belonged. Almost everyone in Uminari City's top brass had come with the exception of the Bannings for obvious reasons, the Tsukimuras, who were doing honest charity work for the local children's hospital, and Mizuiro Kaiju, who was busy screaming at the Grim Reaper over the phone. He was not happy being tricked out of fifty million credits.

As the night went into the twelfth hour, many business cards were exchanged, the string quartet played a solemn tune until they were half asleep, and everyone was engaged in the most 'riveting' discussions ("I asked for my yacht to be eggshell white, not ivory white. Honestly, it is so hard to find good help these days.") It looked to be another uneventful evening…until…

_**BANG!**_

The doors were suddenly kicked open and man wearing a latex shark mask stepped into the room, pulled out a gun, and shot the first person her saw between the eyes, which ironically was the host of the party. A woman screamed before Shark shot her dead too. Everyone else was smart enough to keep their mouths shut. With a soft chuckle, the Shark snapped his fingers and the ball room was suddenly flooded by thirty to forty men, all wearing a marine-themed mask, carrying an assortment of guns and rifles. The Shark laughed again, holstering his gun.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," said the Shark. His voice was soft and smooth as silk, yet had a way of chilling your bones. "We are tonight's entertainment. Now, if you will all line up in a straight line and prepare all your valuables for…safe storage, you might get out of this alive. It's unlikely, I know, but you really don't have much of a choice."

"We aren't intimidated by the Leviathan's two-bit thugs," said one very brave aristocrat.

All the other men and women stepped away from him, fearing that Shark might set their eyes on them next, and started removing their wallets and jewelry obediently. Shark stepped up to the man who was stupid enough to talk back to him, locking eyes with the businessman through his mask.

"You know, you have a lot of balls talking to me like that," said Shark. He clicked the pistol hammer, took aim at the man's lower regions, and pulled the trigger. The businessman screamed in bloody murder, dropping to the floor and trying to stop the bleeding where his manhood once was. "But not anymore! Gyahaha!"

The shark threw back his head and laughed; it was the kind of laugh pierced into your heart and caused you to shake from your soul. The Shark kicked the businessman repeatedly in the same place, laughing even harder when he started crying. His laughter dying down to a small chuckle, the Shark straightened himself and looked around to check their progress. Everyone was handing off their valuables to the Leviathan's henchmen, three people were dead on the floor, and one man had become a woman. This has been a very profitable evening.

"Move it, Richie Rich," said Whale, waving his gun to move the crowd. "Hey, boss, we're almost done here. Just got a few more pockets to clean out."

"Good, good, keep up the good work," said Shark. He reached into the pocket of suit, retrieved a small present wrapped in red bow, and set it on the table in the middle of the room before he turned around and started walking towards the door. "Just make sure to clean up when you're done, okay?"

"Hey, boss, what's that thing?" asked Sponge, referring to the present.

"Just a little gift," said Shark ominously, grasping the door handles and slowly shutting them. "For me…to you…"

He closed the door behind him with a snap. The rest of the Leviathan's men shared looks of confusion – why did Shark just abandon his post and leave behind a present? That wasn't how the Leviathan's gang worked. Seeing as how no one else was going doing anything about it, Sponge dropped his bag and walked over to the table and examined the present. It didn't look anything out of the ordinary; it was just a normal early Christmas present. Sponge tugged at the bow and tore away the paper. When he ripped the present open, he fell back in a fright at the silver box complimented by the neon-red timer counting down from ten.

"Crap, it's a bomb!"

"What the hell?"

"We gotta get out of here!"

"Move your ass!"

The rich and the thugs stampeded toward the door, shoving each other out of the way as the bomb reached its final five seconds. The first one to reach the door was Sponge, gripping the handles and pulling with all his strength. The doors wouldn't budge – they were locked from the outside! Everyone was becoming hysteric by this point, demanding anyone whom was outside to let them out and even throwing themselves at the door to force it open. But it was all in vain as the explosive reached its final moments…

**3…**

**2…**

**1…**

Outside the towering building, an unknown man had pulled off his shark mask, punted it into the trash, pulled out a cigarette, and lighted it. He took his first drag as the top floor of the tower exploded into a shower of brilliant flames and breathed out a cloud of smoke, grinning from ear to ear. Yes, this has been a very profitable evening.

* * *

"…**the entire floor was burned to ashes,**" said Lindy seriously. "**One hundred and four people dead, including a good number of the Leviathan's street soldiers. The UCPD did a thorough inspection of the crime scene and swear that nothing was stolen – just a whole lot of burned bodies.**"

"**I appreciate you telling me this,**" said Nanoha, "**but did you have to do it while I'm in class?**"

It was true. Nanoha had been in the middle of Japanese History when Lindy first contacted Nanoha. Neither of them was worried of being overheard since they had established a mental link to communicate, but Nanoha knew it gave her a glazed look in her eyes that practically begged the teacher to call on her and she would embarrass herself when she didn't know the answer.

"**You realize by now that whoever is doing this isn't showing signs of stopping,**" said Lindy. "**In the past week, there has been a series of random murders: a home full of elderly was poisoned, homeless bludgeoned in the streets, and an entire wing of newborns was found with their throats cut at the hospital. The attacks just seem to be escalating every day.**"

"**Don't the police have any leads**?" asked Nanoha.

"**That's the strangest thing,**" said Lindy. "**Not a single trace of DNA was found at the crime scenes. No hairs, no skin samples, not even a fingerprint or a scarp of clothing that could provide any leads. Whoever this man is, he's very thorough. And because all the murders were committed at random, there's no pattern that we can follow back to him**."

"**There isn't a chance that it's the Grim Reaper, is it?**" said Nanoha worried.

"**The Grim Reaper is an assassin, not a murderer,**" said Lindy. "**Whoever this person is, he's very dangerous.**"

"Psst, Nanoha," Alisa whispered. Nanoha jumped in her seat, though she was thankfully unnoticed by the teacher. "Nanoha, you're spacing out again. If you don't be careful, Sensei is going to catch you again."

"Nyahaha, sorry, Alisa," Nanoha apologized, scratching her head bashfully. "I was up again late last night, so I didn't get enough sleep."

"What have you been doing all night?" asked Alisa strangely.

Last night, she had been flying over the rooftops as the White Devil and stopped a shipment of contraband drugs from getting into the city. She had managed to burn the entire shipment and knock out the Leviathan's goons in record time, but she hadn't been expecting the Leviathan to hire ninja assassins. Nanoha unconsciously rubbed her sore behind where one of the assassins had hit her with a shuriken before she punched him across town. Of course, she wasn't going to tell Alisa that now, was she?

"My papa kept me up until I got this one sword move just right," Nanoha lied.

"No offense, Nanoha, but your papa is a bit of a loon," said Alisa.

Nanoha chuckled nervously. If only she knew. At that moment, the school's intercom clicked on and the principle's voice echoed through the loudspeakers. Maybe it was just paranoia from fighting villains for a whole year, but Nanoha thought their principle sounded like he was trembling, almost as if he was afraid of something.

"_W-w-would all s-students report to the-the gymnasium for-for a special presentation? T-that's all._"

"That was weird," said Alisa with her brow raised.

Regardless of the strangeness of an unplanned presentation, Nanoha, Alisa, Suzuka, and all their classmates slid out of their seats, more than happy to have an excuse to skip class. As they filed into the hallways, Nanoha noted the looks of confusion on the teacher's faces, and assumed they had no idea what was happening either. This was too strange to be normal – Nanoha unlatched Raising Heart for insurance.

"What do you think this lecture is going to be about?" asked Suzuka, sounding genuinely curious.

"I hope it's not that stupid Puffy the Panda thing again," said Alisa irritably. "What's the point of it? It's not like someone is just gonna walk into the forest and burn the whole place down."

"You'd be surprised," Nanoha mumbled, recalling the pyromaniac villain she beat up seven months ago.

In the next ten minutes, students from every grade funneled into the gymnasium, which was an unusual place to hold a lecture in the first place. When Nanoha, Alisa, and Suzuka walked in, they noticed that there were no seats available for the students despite this being a mandatory assembly. In fact, the whole building seemed empty except for their balding, big-mustached principle, who shaking like a leaf, and a man in a long trench coat leaning against the wall. Nanoha narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the man.

When all the students had been gathered, the gymnasium doors slammed behind them – a loud clicking sound echoed in the silent room. Nanoha watched one of the students next to the door try to push the bar, but the door would budge. They had been locked in. Now Nanoha was certain something was wrong.

The man in the trench coat waved his hand to the principle, who whimpered softly at the gesture, then rounded to the gathering students.

"S-settle down, students," said the principle. Even if he said that, it wasn't that very convincing with snot dribbling down his face. "To-today, we have a very s-sp-special guest lecturer. Everyone, p-please welcome…Bleed."

"That's me!" shouted the man enthusiastically.

The man called Bleed pushed off the wall, grabbed a bundle of his coat, and ripped it off with a dramatic flair. The man underneath looked to be in his early twenties with choppy hair that had an unnaturally dark-red tinge to it, like the color of blood. He had six scars on his face – three over each eye – charcoal-black eyes, and a brand mark on the side of his neck that was made from lettering that Nanoha wasn't familiar with. They almost resembled Mid-Childan words except they seemed…older…more refined.

The students and faculty stared at the strange man in silence as he casually marched over to the principle, throwing his arm over the elderly man's shoulder. The principle cringed at Bleed's touch and visibly tried to shake him off, but Bleed tightened his arm around the principles throat to the point where he started choking. When the teacher's finally realized that the principle was in danger, one of them pushed through the sea of children toward Bleed. A very poor choice.

In the blink of an eye, Bleed whipped out the pistol he had holstered on his belt and shot the teacher through the head without a moment's hesitation. Students and faculty screamed and frantically dashed away from his corpse, even a few of them trying fruitlessly to open the doors. In the middle of the hysterical crowd, Nanoha was shoved to the ground by one of her classmates and unconsciously dropped Raising Heart. She watched in horror as Raising Heart was kicked across the room into the corner of the gymnasium. Without Raising Heart at her side, Nanoha could do nothing to stop the students from trampling over her trying to get out.

A gunshot rang in the gymnasium. Everyone stopped in their tracks. Everyone turned round to Bleed, who was holding his smoking pistol to the ceiling.

"Well, that was disorienting, wasn't it?" said Bleed, grinning from ear to ear. "Now everyone please take their seats so that we may begin. And just so you know…I wasn't asking," he added with a soft growl.

Though frightened, the students and teachers obediently sat down on the floor in neat rows. Nanoha used this to her advantages as she crawled behind the backs of the teachers to cover herself. She needed to get back Raising Heart without anyone noticing, and without them finding out she was the White Devil. That part was going to be tricky.

"Now that I have your attention," said Bleed with a malicious grin. His arm tightened around the esophagus of the principle, who was flailing desperately for air. "Hello, boys and girls, I am Uncle Bleed and I am here to teach you a very important life lesson. And the lesson is – that all life comes to an end eventually." A couple of the children closest to him shivered. "That's right, kids, I'm going to teach you the important concept of dying and how to accept it when it comes."

"You psychotic freak," said one brave teacher. "They're only children. They don't – "

_**BANG!**_

"Now, you see, he wasn't ready," said Bleed. He softly blew the barrel of his smoking pistol as the teacher dropped at his feet. "If he had been ready, he wouldn't have chosen those as his final words. Now then…" He started pacing in front of the students, almost as if he were giving an actual lecture. "There are two kinds of ways to die. First is the quick and painless ones, like the one your sensei just demonstrated. A quick shot to the brain – you don't feel a thing and it's all over before you even know what happens.

"Then there are the slow and excruciating ones, which are my personal favorites. When you are experiencing the…joys of a slow death, it feels like every cell in your body is screaming, your blood begins to rush in desperation, and your skin begins to feel a slight tingling sensation until, finally, your vision becomes black and you stop altogether. I think our dear principle is just about ready to give an example."

In the time Bleed had given his 'speech', the principles face had turned an unhealthy shade of blue and was flailing his arms and legs around like windmills. But try as he might, Bleed's grip was too strong to break. But after a few seconds of struggling, the principles eyes began rolling to the back of his head and his body went limp. Bleed chortled softly and dropped him. The students closest to them backed away and a majority of the gymnasium had broken into tears. Bleed just couldn't stop grinning.

Nanoha, who had done her best not to watch the string of murders, crawled into the corner of the gymnasium unnoticed and grabbed Raising Heart. Nanoha took a second look around the edges of the gymnasium, spotting a rack of gym equipment and ducking behind it, making sure that Bleed and her classmates wouldn't see her.

"**Lindy-san!**" shouted Nanoha as she opened the mental link. "**Lindy-san, big trouble! Send a message to the UCPD immediately!**"

"**Whoa, whoa, calm down, Nanoha!**" said Lindy levelly. "**Now what's going on? Why do you need the UCPD?**"

"**You know that guy who's been killing all those people around town?**" said Nanoha, peeking through the equipment at Bleed. "**He's in the Seishou Elementary School in the gym. He's already killed two teachers and the school principle.**"

"**All right, calm down, Nanoha,**" said Lindy seriously. "**I'll send word to Lt. Yagami on the situation. Just try not to do anything that might – **"

"Wasn't that fun, boys and girls! Gyahaha" Bleed yelled loudly. Nanoha unconsciously cut the mental link to Lindy and peered through the rack of basketballs. Bleed was marching up and down the rows of students and faculty, his pistol swinging dangerously on his finger. "You see the importance of knowing what to expect? Now I know your parents and teachers wouldn't want me teaching you about this sensitive subject, but I say you need to be prepared for the worst! Death is unexpected! You could be minding your business one day and then – BOOM! A runaway train squashes you like a bug! I know it seems unlikely, but trust me – Gyahaha – it's very possible.

"Now since I know you kids have such short attention spans, thanks to all the television rotting your brains, I think another demonstration is needed to make sure that it all sinks in. Any volunteers?" As one, the entire school backed away from him. "No? All right then, I'll just pick one for you. Now let's see…" His eyes traveled over the heads of the whimpering children, humming as if he was making a life-changing decision. "Er – too short…too tall…too fat…too skinny…whoa! Too ugly! Ooh, this one is juuuust right. C'mon, baby girl."

"NOOO!" Suzuka screamed.

Nanoha's gasp was unheard. Bleed had grabbed Suzuka by the arm and pulled her to the front of the gymnasium, forcing her to stand at his side. Suzuka's beautiful face was stained with tears and her eyes were red from crying too much. First she was almost buried alive and now she was to play assistant for a psychotic – why was she so darn cute? Nanoha clenched her first, wanting more than anything to punch Bleed's teeth out, but she could just jump out and start pounding on the bad guy. She wasn't the White Devil. Not yet anyway. She needed to be smart, she needed a plan. Nanoha started looking around the gymnasium with a sense of urgency.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Bleed enthusiastically. "Let give a big round of applause to um…what's your name, dear?" Suzuka's only reply was a short hiccup. Bleed wasn't pleased with his answer, jabbed his gun at Suzuka's forehead, and repeated. "What – is – your –name?"

"Su – Suzuka," sniffed Suzuka.

"Suzuka, ladies and gentlemen!" Bleed announced with glee. "Now pay close attention kiddies. Suzuka is going to demonstrate the concept of a slow death once again." Without a moment's hesitation, he wrapped his hand around Suzuka's throat, locking her in his iron grip. "Now don't you worry your pretty little head. This is only going to hurt a lot."

Bleed closed his fist around Suzuka's throat even tighter, instantly choking the air out of her lungs. Nanoha couldn't stand there and watch any more. She didn't care if the whole world found out that she was the White Devil – saving Suzuka's life became top priority. But just as Nanoha was about to step out and punch Bleed in the face, a pencil flew out of the crowd and jabbed Bleed in his right eye. Bleed cried out, releasing his hold on Suzuka, stumbled around for a few seconds, then ripped the makeshift weapon out. Bleed rounded to the audience; many were surprised to see that he wasn't hurt despite having a lead pencil stabbed into his eye.

"Who...did…that?" growled Bleed.

"I did!" shouted Alisa, standing up for everyone to see.

"Alisa…" Suzuka gasped.

"You think you're so tough, don't you?" shouted Alisa courageously. "You think that just because we're a bunch of school children that we can't fight back! Well, I got knew for you 'Bleed', it's gonna take a lot more than a –"

_**Bang!**_

Suzuka, having caught her breath, screamed as her friend dropped to the ground. The only relief was that in his anger, Bleed had missed Alisa's head and shot her in the shoulder. Alisa grunted from the pain flooding her body, but refused to give Bleed the satisfaction of knowing it hurt. That only made Bleed angrier. The crowd parted as Bleed stepped closer and was soon standing over Alisa with the barrel pointed directly at Alisa's skull.

"You got some spunk, little girl," said Bleed. He kicked her in the stomach, causing her to cry out. "I hate spunk! Change in plans, kiddies. Little – Alisa, was it? – just volunteered to demonstrate the quick and painless death. Now don't blink…you're not going to want to miss this. Gyahaha!"

"That does it!" hissed Nanoha angrily, slapping her hand on the wall. "Raising Heart!"

"**Stand-by ready! Set up!**"

And with that familiar flash of sakura-pink light, Nanoha was temporarily stripped of her school uniform and replaced with the familiar heavy cloth of her Barrier Jacket, the staff form of Raising Heart in her left hand. And just as she had planned it, the amount of pressure behind the transformation was transferred from her hand into the wall, collapsing the brick and mortar with a solid _**BOOM**_!

Bleed's finger had only been centimeters away from the trigger when his vision was flooded with pink, his least favorite color, and was blown of his feet by the resonating explosion. Bleed landed roughly on his back, the pistol sliding out of his hand. While most of the students and teachers had huddled together, Suzuka dashed over to Alisa and picked her up by her uninjured shoulder.

"Alisa, are you all right?" asked Suzuka worriedly.

"….look," said Alisa softly.

Suzuka blinked, following the direction of Alisa's gaze. She released a small gasp as the White Devil stepped calmly over the rubble, light of the sun illuminating her figure like an angelic deity. The White Devil felt the stares of her friends and turned toward them, her expression impassive.

"Are you all right?" asked the White Devil coolly. Alisa and Suzuka, suddenly at a loss for words, merely nodded dumbly. "That's good. If anyone can still move, they should escape through the hole I just made. The UCPD should be here any minute now."

"Thanks…thanks again…" said Suzuka gratefully.

Suzuka began to drag Alisa out of the gymnasium, followed by the crowd of school teachers and students making a desperate dash away from Bleed, while giving the White Devil a wide berth. She may be regarded as the hero of Uminari, but she just blew a freakin' hole in the wall! But because of that hole, the whole school was outside in a matter of minutes, leaving the White Devil alone with Bleed.

"Gyahaha! That was something, wasn't it!" Bleed chortled maniacally as he sat up, locking eyes with the White Devil . "Well, well, as I live and breathe. The White Devil in the flesh." He started to stand and brush himself off. Upon closer inspection, the White Devil took notice that Bleed was once again unharmed. Was this some kind of power? "You know, I've been running around this damn city looking for you for over a week now. I mean, I killed old people, homeless, spoiled rich guys, Leviathan's goons – hell, I killed a hospital full of babies! Gyahaha! You're a very difficult girl to track down."

"What do you want with me?" asked the White Devil dangerously.

"Gyahaha! Scary!" Bleed laughed. "You certainly do give off the impression of a devil. And that's exactly why I wanted to meet you – to know you – to understand you. I wanted to see with my own eyes who the White Devil really is. So do me a favor…" He jabbed his hands into his pockets and pulled out another pair of pistols, both aimed at the White. "Try not to die too quickly."

Bleed wasted no time pulling the triggers at a consecutive pace, shooting a hailstorm of bullets across the gymnasium. But the White Devil remained composed, putting little effort into her technique as she raised her right hand, shouted a quick "**Round Shield!**" and conjured the pink barrier between them. The bullets bounced off the shield like rubber, but Bleed didn't stop shooting, and soon there was a pile of dented bullets forming a pile at the White Devil's feet.

Bleed's grin stretched farther and farther with each failed attempt, almost as if he was happy that he was losing. And when both pistols clicked empty, he let out a small chuckle. Bleed dropped the empty firearms and reached into his pockets again, but the White Devil dropped the Round Shield and dashed across the room faster than Bleed could blink and grabbed him by the hand. The White Devil didn't hesitate to pull back Bleed's hand until she could hear the bones in his wrist snapping in two.

Bleed grimaced for only a moment before his maniacal grin was back. He tried to reach for his pockets again using his unbroken hand, but the White Devil slapped it away and then pushed Bleed back into the wall, using Raising Heart's shaft to pin his neck and remaining arm. But despite obviously being overpowered, Bleed continued to flash his teeth like he was having the time of his life. This time, the White Devil really punched him in the mouth.

"Ooh, touchy, touchy," said Bleed. He was still grinning in spite of the blood dribbling down his chin, much to the White Devil's irritation. "You know, you have a lot of anger problems. I would recommend you to my regular therapist, but he's not taking any visitors at this time. Let's just say…he's spending some quality time with his family down under. Really down under. Gyahaha!"

"It's over, Bleed," said the White Devil. "I don't know what you're trying to prove, but I beat you."

"Yes, round one goes to you, Miss Devil," said Bleed giddily. "But the games are only just getting started."

"Game?" growled the White Devil. "You think this is a game?!"

"Oh, yes, a very fun one too," said Bleed. "A game of life and death. Sadly, it gets boring after a while when you always win. For the longest time, I've been looking for a worthy playmate – someone who can match me in both brawns and brains. Sadly, it seemed as if I was doomed to forever play this one-sided game forever." He sighed for dramatic effect, turning his gaze down at the White Devil. "And then you appeared. The demonic savior of Uminari City, the White Devil. At first, I thought you were just another kid running around playing dress up, so I hadn't expected much from you.

"But then I started hearing tales your heroic exploits: shutting down underground crime rings, knocking off hundreds of armed henchmen singlehandedly, slapping around that Sparkler idiot, and being an overall pain in the Leviathan's ass. Gyahaha! I thought maybe, just maybe, I had found someone who could play with me, someone who could understand me.

"Naturally, I was _very _upset when I heard that Grim Reaper bitch had killed you before I had a chance. Fortunately, a kindly couple in the street helped me vent my frustration. And just as I was about to give up hope, I hear word that the White Devil had come back from the grave. I couldn't waste any time tracking you down, so I went around killing off anyone I could find hoping to lure you out. But really, I thought you would have found me a lot soon."

"Well, your sick game is over, Bleed," said the White Devil, digging Raising Hearts shaft further into his neck. "I've won and you're going away for life."

"Now, my little Devil, you didn't honestly think I would show all my cards from the get-go, did you?" said Bleed with a smirk. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve and tons of plans waiting in the wings. This is only round one…"

All of a sudden, the hand that the White Devil thought she had broken snapped back into place and formed a fist that dealt a solid uppercut to her face. The White Devil slid back, suddenly feeling weak at the knees and using Raising Heart for support. It was strange, but all of a sudden, she was feeling exhausted, like she had been running a marathon. Did this have something to do with Bleed's strange power? The White Devil weakly lifted her head, her eyes going wide as Bleed held gun pointed at her.

"Now on to round two…" said Bleed.

_**BANG!**_

* * *

Signum couldn't believe the mess they had found. The police lieutenant cautiously waded through the groups of children that clung to their parents, who had started arriving in droves when the UCPD received the anonymous tip. Knowing that the only anonymous tips came from the White Devil, Signum wasted no tip calling her entire squadron to surround the school. She had been ready to expect the worst since they were dealing with a mass murderer, but this…this was something she wasn't ready for.

She stopped short of the ambulance as paramedics were loading up the corpses and immediate medical attention was given to the injured. He had seen Alisa Bannings earlier before she had been taken to the hospital to get the bullet surgically removed from her shoulder. The bullet had been made from a material that was not made from any Earthly element they were familiar with and didn't want to risk removing it without proper equipment. The Tsukimura girl had volunteered to go with her for moral support.

As Signum's mind began to wonder over the possibilities of what had happened if she had allowed her sister to attend school here, one of the paramedics stepped forward with a clipboard, asking for her signature.

"We retrieved all the bodies, ma'am," said the paramedic as Signum took the board. "Three of them faculty in the school. The last one…well, I honestly can say I was expecting that person."

"I don't think anyone was," said Signum, giving her stiff mark and handing back the board. "I want the last one to be sent to the forensics lab. I want to know everything about him – name, occupation, history – everything."

"Yes, ma'am," said the medic with a salute.

"Kami, what a mess," said Signum with a sigh. She felt a small hand clench on the material of her police uniform and looked down, her eyes softening at the small child escorting her and patting her head. "Are you going to be okay, Nanoha?"

"Yeah…" said Nanoha, very voice hollow. "Yeah…I'll be all right."

"You don't have to act strong," said Signum kindly. "Any child would be scared after going through a situation like that. But it's all over now. I just need to make a few more rounds to make sure that everyone is going to be all right and then I can drop you off at your parent's house. It's going to be okay."

"I'm not scared, Lt. Yagami," said Nanoha honestly. "I'm just…confused. That guy…Bleed, I think his name was…why would he go through all the trouble of killing everyone…just to shoot himself. It doesn't make any sense."

"Based on witness testimonies, he wasn't mentally stable to begin with," said Signum carefully, probably not wanting to frighten Nanoha. "We never know what people are really thinking when they decide to…let loose. He was going up against the White Devil, so many he chose to die rather than to face her. Or maybe that was his plan from the beginning. I don't know." She looked down at Nanoha, saddened by the grim look in the child's eyes. "Hey, let's not think about that. What do you say on the way back, she stop by the one ice cream shop you like. Hayate's wanted me to pick up her favorite mint swirl anyway."

"Yeah…yeah, that'd be nice…" said Nanoha, showing the smallest of smiles.

Signum allowed her expression to soften when she met Nanoha's gaze, only allowing herself to walk away when she knew that Nanoha was going to be fine. And for the most part, she was. Nanoha had saved all of her classmates and though three people had died because she hadn't been fast enough, Nanoha understood that she couldn't save everyone. There was something about Bleed that just made Nanoha feel horrible. She had dealt with thieves, murderers, and the occasional supervillain, but Bleed was something else entirely. She didn't know if it was because of his strange unknown power or his willingness to kill himself, but Nanoha felt something about Bleed that she had never felt before.

And that scared her…because what she felt in that short span of time…was the feeling of kinship.

* * *

It was late at night in the UCPD forensics lab, exactly eight hours after the attack at Seishou Elementary. All the surviving students and faculty had been safely escorted back to their families, though most of them would likely be seeking therapy after such an event. And as the forensic scientists outfitted herself for work, she took a moment to look over the man responsible for the tragedy.

Lying there motionless on the cold steel table with a wicked grin stretched from ear to ear, the doctor felt a shiver running down her spine. She had seen hundreds of dead bodies since starting in the UCPD, but there was something about this man – Bleed, as it said in the report – that made her want keep her distance, almost as if fearing that he would suddenly come to life again.

The doctor took a deep breath. She couldn't let a silly superstition get the better of her. Dead people don't come back to life; that only happened in comic books and manga. Taking a syringe from tray, she stabbed the needle into Bleed's shoulder and slowly started to draw the blood into the tube. At the same time, she pressed the record button on the tape record she had stashed in her breast pocket.

"Taped analysis number one," said the doctor. "Subject has no recorded name, alias listed as Bleed. Subject's time of death: 12:57. Location of death: Seishou Elementary School gymnasium. Cause of death: A direct gunshot to the subject's cerebral cortex by the subject via suicide. Perhaps done out of fear or mental instability." She removed syringe, grabbed a test slide, and squirted a small sample of blood on it. "Proceeding to analysis subject's DNA via blood sample. Perhaps it can explain whether his acts of murder were done voluntarily or on impulse."

Setting the syringe back on the tray, the doctor turned round and moved to the microscope on her desk. She slid the sample under the magnifying glass and peered inside, adjusting the dials to give her a clear view of Bleed's blood. What she saw caused her to gasp and stumble back a few feet, her hands cover her mouth from the shock.

"No, no, no, that's impossible…" stammered the doctor. "What the hell is – "

The doctor's words were cut short when she felt something stabbing through her throat. Her eyes tilted downward to the syringe she had been using earlier and the hand pressing the instrument further into her skin. She tried to call out for help, but her words were garbled as a large quantity of blood began to clog her throat. There was hardly any struggle before the doctor dropped to the floor, earning the laughter of her killer.

"What's up, doc? Gyahaha!" Bleed cackled.

* * *

**Ladies and Gentlemen, Bleed – the darkest character you will ever see in a Nanoha fanfic. I want to apologize in advance for not putting up much of a fight in this chapter, but Like Bleed said, he's not going to show all his tricks in the first round. This chapter is mostly to establish what a truly horrifying character Bleed is that sets him in a league of his own. In the next chapter, Nanoha tries to move on from the terrifying encounter with Bleed, but an old enemy from the past seeks to reignite the fires of war between them. Will Nanoha be able to take the heat, or will she crash and burn? Find out on the next White Devil!**


End file.
